My Whole World
by comet-123
Summary: Annie's 18 and just moved to London. She was expecting big changes in her life, but nothing as big as what was to come when she moved into the same complex as One Direction. Little did she know that her whole life would be affected by this stroke of luck.


**CHAPTER 1** Annie's POV

"ANNIE! HURRY UP OR WE'RE GOING TO MISS THE PREVIEWS!" I heard Claire yell from upstairs as I took my time trying to detach myself from the couch I had been napping on for the past three hours. I guess I was still jetlagged from my flight.

Two days ago, I flew from Maryland to London to attend culinary school at one of the best universities in the world. I'm quite an excellent baker. Ever since I was 13 years old I've wanted to move far away from Maryland and open up a bakery. I know it seems like a childish dream, something that I should've grown out of, but it's what I love to do and something I want to do for the rest of my life. There's nothing that I love more than putting a smile on someone's face when they bite into something delicious.

Now let's just say that's not exactly what my parents wanted to hear… I've had some pretty high expectations when it came to deciding what I wanted to do with my life. I feel like whatever I like or am good at will never be enough for my parents. They want me to follow in the footsteps of my three older siblings.

My oldest sibling, Becca, is 32 and a plastic surgeon. I've never really been close to her, considering she was 14 years old when I was born. By the time I was old enough for us to have things in common, she was in her second year of medical school.

Behind Becca is my 27 year old brother, Ryan. He just graduated from medical school to become a brain surgeon. Following Ryan is my 22 year old brother Matt. He just graduated from a regular college and is now in his first year of dental school.

Let's not forget my parents, who are both general surgeons. So, as you can imagine, my parents were pretty upset when I told them that my calling in life was to become a professional baker and open a bakery in London.

Why London you may ask? Well, to be honest, I just really want to get away, far away, to somewhere I've never been. Somewhere I could experience something new. Plus, I've always had a thing for British accents :).

Even though I was extremely excited about getting out of boring old Maryland, I was still very nervous about going to a new place and having to start over and make all new friends. I knew it wouldn't be very hard, but I was going to miss everyone so much. Especially my boyfriend Colin, we've been together since I was 15 and we are absolutely crazy for each other. I love him more than anything and I just knew that it be extremely difficult to leave him behind. But this is my passion and sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the things you love and the ones you love. But we will make it work. So far I've only been in London for 48 hours and we've skyped a total of seven times.

The most challenging part is the time difference though. We're working on it and trying to figure out when the best times to talk are based on our schedules and the time zones. Still, to be honest, I'm actually not scared about our relationship falling apart. I know it seems weird. I should at least be a little nervous, but we love each other so much and both feel like in the end, this will only make our relationship stronger.

When I told my new roommate, Claire, about this, she was shocked. When I was still in America, I decided that while I lived in London, I would rent an apartment with a roommate. It was pretty adventurous of me, considering I had never met her and knew absolutely nothing about her.

All I knew was that she is studying at the university right next to mine. I figured I was moving to a new place and it would be a good opportunity to meet people. I have never made a better decision in my life. After an hour of living in that apartment together, we felt like we've been best friends all of our lives. We couldn't be any more alike. We are both extremely crazy, extremely girly, and love getting into shenanigans. The only difference between us is her British accent and blonde hair. I, on the other hand, have a strong American accent, red hair, and freckles. To be honest though, I think I'm tanner than she is. I know it's a shocker for a ginger to get tan, but I actually do get very tan in the summer. I spent the past three months living at the beach and I got really dark, considering I'm usually not the tannest person. Other than that we're both about the same height and we're both pretty slim.

Once I got up, I made my way to my bedroom and quickly fixed my makeup and ran a brush through my red hair, trying to get out all of the knots from my nap. I had no success, so I just decided to give up and put it in a messy bun. If I had a few extra minutes, I would take the time to get all the knots out, but Claire and I were going to a 3:00 showing of _The Vow_. She insists on getting there at least 20 minutes early for the previews, even though the previews don't even start until 3:00.

It's really nice knowing someone who grew up in London, because without Claire, I probably would get lost every time I leave our building. It's also nice because she knows a lot of the people around here and I've made a lot of new friends in my past couple days. We were planning on seeing the movie with our friend, Ally, and her boyfriend, Spencer, but Ally called a couple hours ago saying they couldn't make the movie. She sounded pretty mad so I assumed Spencer told her that he didn't feel like being dragged along to another chick flick. She will find a way to make him pay for this though, I'm sure. Tomorrow she's moving into our apartment so she will probably end up making him carry all her stuff in and torment him with mindless things he doesn't care about, like what color we should paint the walls, or if he thinks the couch looks better in the center of the room or against the wall. It kind of stinks she can't make it, because after the movie, we were going to go shopping for our new apartment.

Oh well, I guess Claire and I will just have to go without her and surprise her with whatever we come back with. We really should just skip the movie and go shopping for the apartment all together. We have a lot of space to fill and not that much time to fill it, considering classes start in three days. But I've wanted to see this movie for a while. Soon it won't be in theaters and it will be another couple months before it comes out on DVD, so I want to see it while I still can.

**CHAPTER 2** Annie's POV

_The Vow_ was great! It was exactly the type of movie I would've dragged Colin to. He would've gone willingly, because he knows I would've cried and he would be there to comfort me and snuggle with me. Still, it was good seeing it with Claire, but I desperately just wanted to cuddle with Colin and have him hold me and tell me he loves me. I guess those are just one of the many things you have to learn to live without while being in a long distance relationship. I am really excited though, because at nine o'clock we are skyping. He has already started his classes and his last one gets out at four o'clock, so that means that it would be nine o'clock here. Until then, I was going to spend my time looking for cute furniture for our two story, loft apartment.

It was 8 o'clock and I was absolutely exhausted from shopping. Plus, I was still a little jetlagged. Instead of stopping for dinner, we just went right back to the apartment because we both ate a lot at the movie. As we got out the cab to go into our apartment building, there was a large crowd of 15 year old girls outside, surrounding the entrance. I was really curious about what was going on, but I was also kind of annoyed because I had to weave through them to get to the door. Not to mention the fact that we had a furniture truck with about three couches and four beds in it. These girls were going to have to move aside, unless they wanted to get trampled.

Trying to pass through these girls was like going against a strong ocean current. It seemed like they really did not want to let anyone though. Somehow, we made our way to the door, showed the man outside that we lived here, and he let us in. Once we got into the building, we fell into the chairs in the lobby to catch our breath.

I turned my head to Claire and asked while still panting, "What the heck is up with all those crazy girls?"

She looked at me in confusion saying, "What are you talking about? There are five _hot_, famous guys living in this building, why wouldn't there be a crowd of people outside?"

I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, so I said, "Well, whoever they are they must be pretty sexy to have all these girls waiting for them outside their apartment building." With that said, the furniture people made their way into the building without killing anyone with the huge couches and beds they were carrying. After about 45 minutes of making trips back and forth, bringing our furniture to our room, we were finally finished and had turned our boring apartment into an awesome living space. We were both extremely proud of our fully decorated loft and decided that it would be amazing to throw a party with some of Claire and Ally's friends so that we could show off our apartment and I could meet some new people.

**CHAPTER 3** Annie's POV

I quickly ran to my room, realizing that I was supposed to skype Colin in five minutes. I fixed my hair and makeup so that I looked cute for him, and before I knew it, five minutes had passed and he was calling me.

_Ring…..Ring…Ring…_

"HI BABY! I MISS YOU!" I shouted because it was just so nice to see him. He was wearing a grey University of Maryland t-shirt. It looked like he'd slept in it for the past week.

"I miss you so much you don't even know…" I could hear the sadness in his voice as he said it. This move was going to be harder than I thought.

"How is everyone? I miss you guys so much!"I cried. He then went on to tell me that everyone was doing great and they all really missed me. He told me about his classes, his schedule, and how all of his roommates were really cool and nice. He mentioned that he thinks he's going to join a frat.

"Don't get into too much tomfoolery and leave me for some sorority girl," I said as he told me about joining the frat.

"I won't. I could never leave you… I love you too much," he confessed while his cheeks turned a shade of pink. It made my heart race when he said it. Just knowing that the person you can't live without loves you the same amount back makes you realize that as long as you have each other, nothing can go wrong.

I missed him. Everything he said was just so honest. I felt like I could trust him with anything. Colin really was special. It's hard to find guys like him. To my disappointment, he had to a hang up a few minutes later because a few of his roommates were going to play basketball and asked him if he wanted to come. At first he said no, saying that he wanted to stay and talk to me, such a gentleman, but then I told him to go ahead and hang out with his friends. I told him to have fun, being the great girlfriend that I am :). But I really did miss him and wanted to talk to him more, but I also didn't want to be the needy girlfriend type, so I just let him go. We could talk tomorrow.

**CHAPTER 4** Annie's POV

I woke up to the sound of _Ours_ by Taylor Swift. The song put me in a good mood because it reminds me of Colin and how whenever we would drive in my car, we would listen to it. I would attempt to sing just like her, but instead, I would utterly fail. It always cracks him up and puts a huge smile on his face. Let's just say I'm not the next Taylor Swift.

I ran into my bathroom and let the steam of the shower relax me as I tried to not be nervous for my first day of class. I ran the strawberry scented shampoo and conditioner through my hair. This somehow seemed to make me calm down. I couldn't tell if I was more nervous or excited or if I was just confusing the two. This was going to be great. I was going to be able to spend my days baking and learning new recipes. This had been my dream for so long and now it was finally coming true! I ran into my room and quickly put on a pair of jean shorts, a loose fitted blue tank top, and applied my makeup. I ate breakfast in a rush because I wanted to get a head start so I could figure out where my classes were.

Surprisingly, my classes were pretty easy to find. I only got lost once and it was for about five seconds when I was trying to find a water fountain. I walked into my first class and a tall woman with thick wavy brown hair wearing a chef's coat and hat stood in the front. As I looked around the room I saw four long wooden tables covered with mixers and chef coats and hats. The woman told us to stand behind any mixer and to put on the coat and hat. As I was doing so, a girl, who was a little shorter than me with dark brown hair came and stood next to me, doing the same.

"Hi, I'm Emma," she said in a British accent. I introduced myself and we started talking about how we love to bake and how we were both really nervous but still excited for the first day today.

We were then interrupted by a husky voice asking what we were supposed to be doing. He stood on the other side of me. He was tall and blonde, and looked a little like Colin. I think he was a little more buff than Colin though. He introduced himself as James and joined in on the conversation. He was very friendly and the conversation wasn't awkward at all, considering none of us knew each other 20 minutes ago. Ten minutes later the class seemed completely filled and the teacher started to talk.

"If you are here right now, than you obviously have a passion for baking. In this class you will learn many skills and techniques that will help you to not only grow as a chef, but grow as an individual".

"That's deep," I whispered to Emma and we both started to crack up under our breath.

"If you want to succeed in this class then you will have to work hard and truly love the culinary arts."

She then went on for another thirty minutes about things that absolutely no one, including myself, bothered to pay attention to. Instead Emma, James, and I spent the whole class mocking the teacher who clearly seemed to have her trousers in a twist.

"Now, I will give you the next 90 minutes to create something delicious that will let me know what your skill level is and how basic I need to start with the class. GO!"

I immediately knew what I was going to make, my Oreo cupcakes that everyone seems to find irresistible. With little time to spare, I finished frosting them and placed half a broken Oreo on top for decoration. They looked beautiful and I was very proud of them. Next to me, Emma had made a traditional red velvet cake that looked gorgeous. She placed white chocolate shavings all around the sides of the cake to make it look more sophisticated. James had decided to make some delicious-looking coffee cake. I've trained myself not to eat what I bake, in order to keep myself from getting fat, but his coffee cake looked absolutely amazing! I just wanted to gobble it up!

The teacher made her way around the tables, giving a snarl at something that did not taste good, or just silently passing through to the next person if she enjoyed what you made. Suddenly, I started to feel really nervous, I think we all were. As she came to Emma, she looked at the piece of cake that was cut for her.

When she saw it, she said, "Hmmm… another red velvet cake I see. Hopefully this is better than the last five I tried." She took a bite and without looking at Emma or saying anything, she went on to me.

Quickly, I started to get extremely nervous and I could feel my cheeks turning red. She took a bite and looked at me without saying a word. Her facial expressions said it all. I could see that she enjoyed it, even if she didn't want to admit it. I then took a silent sigh of relief and started to relax because I knew that I had made a good first impression.

She then went on to James's coffee cake. She took a bite and looked like she had died and gone to Heaven. I was happy none of my new friends got rejected by her and I was even happier _I _didn't get rejected by her.

At the end of class she called James and I up to the front of the class and gestured for us stand next to her. She then announced that we were the winners of the challenge and would be receiving a bucket of fondant each to practice with. She asked us if we had ever worked with fondant. James said no but I had some experience. I hated working with fondant. It was so hard, but everything comes out so beautifully. I just need practice and that's what this was going to give me. I honestly didn't even care about the fondant; I was just relieved that I had won. It also calmed me to know that she recognizes that I have talent and deserve to be studying here.

Finally, the class was over. My teacher had scared me so badly; it wasn't even funny. After class Emma, James, and I went out to lunch and spent the whole time making fun of our new teacher. She was seemed literally insane. We were acting crazy, reenacting her actions and attitude in the restaurant. The people probably thought we had something wrong with us.

After lunch, I decided that I'd better get home and help Ally unpack so Spencer didn't have to do it all by himself. But before I left, I invited Emma and Spencer to Claire, Ally and I's party on Friday. They sounded excited and said they would try to be there.

**CHAPTER 5** Annie's POV

As I was walking to the apartment building, there was still a group of girls outside. This was starting to get annoying. I walked up to Phil, the doorman, and asked, "Is it always like this?" in a worried and also annoyed voice.

He then quietly said back to me, "Get used to it, this is considered a good day. The rainy weather is keeping more fans from showing up. It's usually three times this many." This was going to get old really quickly.

I went in, not even bothering with who the famous band was; except, I did feel like knocking on their door and telling them to make their crazy fans go somewhere else. Yet, I was in too good of a mood for that kind of stuff right now. So instead, I went up to my room, only to find Ally directing Spencer and his friend Chris on where to put the couch.

She must have made them move it to ten different places before finally telling them to set it down, saying that it was perfect. "Good Lord Ally, is this what you've guys have been doing all day?" I said in a sympathetic voice directed towards Spencer and Chris.

"It's been torturous… Annie please, make her stop!" Spencer exclaimed.

"Sorry, no can do Spencer. You got yourself into this. At least now you know not to skip out on a movie with Ally," I responded, still sounding sympathetic for what Ally had been putting them through.

He sounded disappointed by my response, but I was not about to get into the middle of this. "Hey Ally, I invited a few friends to the party Friday, hope that's okay."

I don't know why I bothered asking. I knew it would be ok, but I just thought I should give her the heads up. "GREAT! The more the merrier! We're going to have a huge party. This should be fun! Invite whoever you can, our loft is definitely big enough."

I was starting to get pretty excited for this party. And she was right, our apartment is huge. It has five bedrooms and is two stories. More than three people should be living here, but for right now, I'm pretty content with me, Claire, and Ally. I left Ally, Spencer, and Chris alone to go skype Colin.

**CHAPTER 6** Annie's POV

Today was going to be a good day, I thought to myself as I was getting ready. I woke up an extra ten minutes earlier, because I knew if I didn't leave the house before ten o'clock, then it would be impossible to get out of my apartment building, because of all the screaming fans.

I still haven't bothered to figure out who the band was yet. I've been way too busy to care. As I walked out the door I wasn't trampled or pulled at by the fans. It was nice figuring out their schedule so I didn't have to deal with that nonsense. As I walked into class, I was greeted by Emma and James and our new friend Mike.

Mike was tall with brown hair and was also pretty muscular. I still don't understand how all these hot guys got interested in culinary arts, but I'm not complaining. "Hey Annie your party is still on for tonight, right?" Emma asked and James and Mike chimed in.

"Yep! Ill text you guys the address. Oh, and when you get there tell the doorman, Phil, that your friends of Annie, Ally, and Claire. He's pretty strict with letting people in because apparently some famous band lives in the same building. I'll let him know ahead of time that we're having a lot of people over."

"Whoa, who's the famous band!" Mike asked.

"To be honest I don't really know. I know that it sounds kind of weird that I haven't found it out yet, but I've been way too busy with school work and getting the apartment ready to get around to figuring it out." I really did want to know who it was, but like I said, I just haven't gotten around to it.

My last class ended at four o'clock, which meant I had to get home and help Claire and Ally get the apartment ready.

Once we had finished getting ready, the apartment was spotless and all the valuable stuff was put away so it couldn't be ruined by any crazy teenagers. I set up the drink and snack table with a wide variety of things. The snacks ranged from grapes to cheese balls to cupcakes that I had baked. The drinks varied from water to beer. It was really weird to be legally allowed to drink here, but even though it is legal here, I try not to get too intoxicated.

People were going to start showing up at around nine-ish, so I figured I better go down and tell Phil that there were going to be a whole lot of 18 year olds coming here tonight, so he should let them in. He was fine with it and said that the fans usually start leaving between seven and eight, so our friends probably won't have to worry about finding their way to the door.

I decided I better go up to my room and start getting ready. I took a quick shower and put on a tank top and pajama shorts. I then went over to my vanity, did my makeup and French braided my hair so that by the time my hair was fully dried, it would be wavy. I searched through my closet trying to find the perfect thing to wear. I pulled out a pair of short jean shorts, a loose fitting salmon-colored tank top with a big black butterfly on it, a brown belt, and a pair of faded brown leather combat boots that go about three inches above my ankle, lace in the front, and zip up on the side. My hair had finally dried and I let out the braids to a soft, playful wave. I was starting to get really excited.

I walked out and saw Claire in a pair of jean shorts, wearing a bright blue and white striped long sleeved shirt, and Ally in a pair of yellow shorts with a long sleeved white lace shirt.

"Annie will you go get your iPod for me? I want to hook it up to the sound system." Claire asked me. As a going away present, her parents got her a huge Bose speaker system which was great for times like these. I went and got my iPod. As she plugged it in, the song _Good Feeling_ by Flo Rida came on. We left our door open and people started to come in and out.

By the time it was ten o'clock, there were probably at least 70 people in our apartment and more and more people started coming in. It was crazy, but extremely fun. I made my way to the dance floor with Emma and Claire and we just started going crazy! Ally was too busy dancing with Spencer to come join us.

We were all terrible dancers, so we all just broke out in our signature dance moves. As I was in the middle of doing the chipmunk, the doorbell rang. Someone obviously must have closed our door for some reason, but I went over to answer it.

When I opened it, there were two extremely hot guys standing in front of me. One had dark, curly hair and the other one had radiant blue eyes and messy, but really sexy hair. "Hi!" I said having such a good time that I didn't even care that I've never seen these people in my life.

"Making a bit of a ruckus in here I see." The one with the blue eyes said while peeking his head in to look around and see what was going on.

I laughed and said, "Yeah my roommates and I are just having a few people over." I shouted over the blaring music.

"A few people, more like the whole city!" The curly haired one said.

"So are you going to just make us talk to one another from out here, or are you going to be a polite host and invite us in?" the blue-eyed one asked.

"Wow! Sorry, do you guys want to come in and join the party?" I said, probably sounding like an idiot.

"YOU BET WE DO! Come on Tommo!" the curly-haired one said. I have to admit his hair was hypnotizing. God they were hot. They quickly made their way through the door and weaved their way through the drunken teenagers.

I made my way to the drinks and they seemed to be right behind me. I politely asked, "Do you guys want anything to drink?" They both answered two beers and I gave them each one.

"I'm Annie, by the way." I said to them introducing myself.

"I'm Louis and this is Harry." Louis was the one with the gorgeous eyes and Harry was the one with the curly hair.

"Wait, so are you new here or something? For the longest time no one has lived in this apartment." Harry asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "I just moved in about two weeks ago. I'm going to the culinary arts school down the street and my two roommates are going to the university right next door."

"Oohh culinary arts, I see, are you a good baker?" Louis asked sounding very intrigued.

I laughed and said "See for yourself. I probably have ten different varieties of cupcakes right here." I said while waving one of the many plates of cupcakes in front of them.

Their eyes widened as they saw how irresistible they looked and they each took one. "OH MY GOD!" they both exclaimed as they took a bite

"THAT'S THE BEST THING I'VE EVER TASTED IN MY LIFE!" Harry said with all seriousness, yet much excitement.

"Aw man Harry, we've got to get Niall down here. He would be in Heaven!" Louis shouted over the music.

"Beer and cupcakes what more could you ask for?" I said.

They laughed and then we went on to talking about how I'm planning on owning a bakery one day At one point, I went off about how my parents were furious that I wanted to go to culinary school. I don't even know how we got to the point of the conversation, but I think I was a little tipsy so I guess I was just letting my feelings out.

We spent nearly three hours talking about the most random things and then we got the point where we just felt like going crazy. As the music was blasting, we all broke out dancing. Me being the pathetic dancer that I am, decided to play it cool and just stick with the Q-tip and the chipmunk.

Meanwhile, Louis broke out into a move that he attempted to teach me, called pat the dog and screw the light bulb. I was a complete and utter failure at it. I couldn't stop laughing at how hard it was for me to pretend to pat a dog while screwing a light bulb.

Then Harry taught me one that I was capable of doing, called the Michael Phelps. I was actually really good at it. I actually looked like I was swimming. It was about two a.m. and there were still a good number of people in the apartment. Eventually, it got so hot from all the people inside that we went out onto the balcony. It was nice because there was no one out there and we could just hang out and be alone. Then, we broke out into a game of would you rather.

"I want to go first!" Harry shouted acting as if he were a five year old. I can't blame him though; he and Louis were pretty drunk. I was just a little bit tipsy.

"FINE YOU CAN GO FIRST YOU BIG BABY!" Louis shouted at Harry which caused me to break out into more laughter. Whoever these kids were, they were hilarious! Whenever I was with them I couldn't stop laughing. I was literally sitting on the ground, looking like an idiot cracking up.

"Okay, Annie, would you rather live without a thumb or live without an eyeball?" Harry asked.

"What kind of question is that!" I replied.

"JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!" Harry shouted at me.

"Umm…. I don't know! I guess a thumb!" I answered, sounding skeptical.

" But if you didn't have a thumb, you wouldn't be able to bake," Louis added in, sounding very wise.

"Well, then I guess I would just have to work around it and be a miracle baker or something." I said back snippily.

"Harry would you rather eat a worm or eat dog poop?" I asked.

"Um… hmm, I don't know, I mean definitely not dog poop, so I guess a worm…" he said skeptically.

I looked around our many plants and picked up a worm and held it out to Harry saying, "Hey Harry, here's a worm will you eat it?"

"NO I WONT EAT IT!" he screamed.

"Yeah, but Harry you said you'd rather eat a worm." I added in.

"That is true Harry, you did say you would rather eat a worm." Louis said, defending my point.

"Yeah but that's if I had to either eat dog poop or a worm! I don't just go around eating worms!"

"What if I said I'd pay you $100 if you ate it? Would you do it then?" I asked him.

"Really? You would really pay me $100?" It would be too good if I could manage to get him to eat the worm. I mean, I knew he was pretty intoxicated, so it probably wouldn't be that hard.

"YEP! I promise!" I said, crossing my fingers behind my back.

"You promise? Well… okay…" He held up the worm, but before eating it, he said, "WAIT! LET ME SEE THE $100 FIRST!"

"What hundred dollars?" I asked innocently.

"YOU KNOW THE $100 YOU PROMISED ME!" he said very angrily.

"Oh, I didn't say $100, I said a hundred _doll hairs_" I said with emphasis on the doll hairs. Louis then broke out cracking up.

"Fine, then let me see the hundred _doll hairs._" He said, also with emphasis on the doll hairs. I quickly got up and started to run away, but only to be caught by Harry's arms, which caused me to let out a scream.

He grabbed me, turned me around and said, "Fine… Where are my doll hairs?" only inches from my face. His cool breath against my skin gave me goose bumps and made my heart melt. I could feel my cheeks starting to turn pink, which made me so thankful that it was pitch-black out, so he wouldn't be able to notice and see how the simplest of actions made him so powerful.

I finally managed to find my voice and responded, "I'm sorry Harry, but sadly I am all out of doll hairs."

He looked at me saying, "Well, I guess you'll just have to kiss me instead." His voice sounded so seductive and actually made me really to want to kiss him back, which scared me.

I love Colin, I could never leave him. I love him more than anything and would never do anything to hurt him. So I responded, "But you never ate the worm. Even if you did eat it, I wouldn't kiss you after you ate a worm!"

I didn't want to tell him that I had a boyfriend, but I felt like I owed it to Colin to tell Harry, so I decided I would. "Plus Harry," I said with a sigh, "I have a boyfriend…". Harry's face dropped.

"Oh…" he said.

There was a long pause until I heard, "Well, we can still be friends, can't we?"

I smiled back, feeling so relieved and said, "definitely!"

I was really happy by his response. I liked Harry, but I just wanted to be friends. I just could never hurt Colin like that. A few minutes later, we started to hear a strange noise coming from behind the chairs. It was Louis. We had completely forgotten about him. We had both looked over, and there he was, fast asleep, snoring on my balcony. It was about four a.m., and everyone seemed to be gone.

"I better get him home. See you soon?" Harry asked which made my heart flutter.

"NO! IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO MAKE MY HEART FLUTTER! HE'S JUST A GUY AND HE'S JUST YOUR FRIEND, SO STOP LETTING HIS CHARM GET TO YOU!" I thought to myself, trying to make the irresistible feelings somehow go away.

I said, "Yes definitely!"

Harry woke up Louis saying, "Come on buddy, let's go home and go to bed."

Louis then mumbled some words that I couldn't understand and they made their way out my door, but before they left, Harry secretively handed me something. I looked down and found that it was his number written a tiny piece of yellow paper. "Call me soon and let's hang out. This was really fun tonight."

My heart was racing a thousand miles per minute and I probably had a stupid smile on my face. "Yeah I will for sure! This was really fun. Maybe I can bake for your friend Niall too!" I said. 'Yeah I will for sure' I thought to myself. What a stupid response.

He chuckled and said, "Sounds great! I would love another one of those cupcakes!"

Harry was then interrupted by Louis moaning, "Come on Harry berry, I'm tired."

"Okay, well I better get going then I guess." And with that they were gone and my pulse was racing, but I was too tired to yell at myself again and decided to just crawl into bed.

**CHAPTER 7** Annie's POV

I rolled over on my bed only to see that it was four o'clock in the afternoon. Had I seriously slept for the majority of the day? I decided I better get up, even though I wanted to sleep longer. I still had to skype Colin in an hour and I wanted to get ready, take a shower, and have breakfast. Well, I guess a very late breakfast.

Once I got out of the shower I threw my hair into a messy bun, not wanting to deal with it, put my makeup on, and went over to my closet to look for something to wear. I just decided to go with a pair of running shorts and one of Colin's old sweatshirts that I had adopted.

I made my way into the kitchen to get an apple and some peanut butter and took a seat next to Claire at the kitchen table.

"Wow, someone slept in." She said in a playful voice. "Last night was ridiculously fun! We need to throw parties way more often!" she said in a cheerful attitude. I'm honestly surprised she's not as tired as me… She stayed up way later, plus, I think she drank more.

"Agreed. Last night was extremely fun!" I tried to say back with the same amount of enthusiasm in my voice as there was in hers, but she and I could both tell I sounded really tired.

"Hey, where did you go last night anyways? After you left to answer the door no one was able to find you." She said with one eyebrow cocked, sounding very curious and making it seem like I was up to no good.

"Oh, some of the neighbors came up and we started talking and hanging out. It was really fun, whoever they are, they were hilarious and we had great time." I said with a huge smile on my face as I was rethinking the previous night. It really was a great party, especially when Harry and Louis came up.

Then I remembered how I had almost kissed Harry and the smile fell from my face. How was I going to tell Colin that I had almost kissed Harry? Did I even need to tell him? I mean, it's not like I kissed him back. I _almost_ kissed him. But I'm still mad at myself because I really did want to kiss him. But before I did, I had realized it was wrong and ended up keeping myself from kissing him. So in the end, I didn't do anything wrong, right?

I feel like such a bad person. Even if I didn't kiss Harry, I still wanted to, and that's just as bad. I'm such a terrible person. I leave my boyfriend behind in boring Maryland, while I go off to London and just start making out with hot Brits. I just need to forget about it. It was a mistake, it was one time, and I didn't even kiss him, so there's _nothing_ to worry about and _nothing_ to tell.

I guess Claire saw my facial expressions change from extremely happy to worried and angry, because she changed the subject. "So… apparently a few members from that band were spotted at our party. Do you think they were really here?" she asked sounding like she thought it was just a rumor going around. I shrugged my shoulders because I had other things on my mind besides whether some boy band with annoying fans came to our party or not. I then realized that I was supposed to skype Colin in two minutes, so I went to my room and turned my laptop on.

_ Ring….Ring…..Ring…._

I pressed answer and was greeted by his messy blonde hair and another University of Maryland t-shirt. This one was red and actually looked clean compared to the other one.

"Hey baby!" I said, noticing how exhausted I actually sounded.

"Hey! Someone sounds tired. Long night?" I had previously told him that I was having a party last night, so he must have picked up from the tiredness in my voice that I had stayed up quite late.

"You don't even know, but it was so fun!" he sounded interested so I went on to explain how everyone just went crazy and didn't care about looking like an idiot. I also went on to talk about the part where the doorbell rang and our neighbors showed up, but failed to mention that they were extremely hot. I continued on to tell him about all the shenanigans we got into and how I attempted to get Harry to eat a worm. I stopped after that part and said that it was late and they decided to go home because Louis had fallen asleep on my balcony. I didn't mention the part where I almost kissed Harry and when he gave me his number. I don't know why I felt like I had to leave out the number part. I mean I had the numbers of all of my other guy friends and that's no big deal. Maybe I just felt like it wasn't important enough to mention to him.

"Sounds like a lot of fun! I wish I could've been there. I miss you." He sounded so sincere; I loved how he was always so honest. Maybe it's because he is the worst liar that I've ever met. If he gets nervous, his voice starts to shake, and sometimes he starts to stutter. So I guess he's just completely decided to give up on fooling anyone and just go with the truth. But I loved it, I loved the way I could just tell him anything and he would give me a straight-up, honest answer. He would never do it in a rude way; he would always try to be as sensitive as he could towards your feelings, so that he didn't upset you or make you feel bad about yourself. Colin was one of those people who could get away with saying almost anything because he knew how to word things without making them sound as bad as they actually were.

We then went on to talk about school and he started to tell me about pledging and the ridiculous things that he had to do. Some of things he told me just made me cringe by the thought of it. He was cracking up at my reactions, but the stuff he had to do sounded so disgusting. I honestly don't know how he can put up with that.

"Oh babe, I gotta go, I have to meet with my study group for a test we have Monday." He sounded like he was in a rush, so I didn't want to keep him, even though I still wanted to talk.

"Ok, I love you" I said, sounding kind of upset and disappointed.

"I love you too, talk to you tomorrow." And with that, he was gone. I missed him; I just wanted him to hold me and kiss me goodbye. Long distance relationships suck.

**CHAPTER 8** Annie's POV

I woke up around nine the next morning to a completely spotless house. I was in shock. Ally and Claire had managed to get all the trash thrown away and everything put back into its original spot. I felt kind of bad though because I remembered that after I had finished skyping Colin, I had crawled back in bed for the night. I needed to do something to make it up to them. I decided I would go out and get them breakfast, so that when they wake up, they will be in for a nice surprise.

I took a quick shower, did my makeup, and put on a pair of jean shorts with a tight long-sleeved light-blue shirt, and my sandals.

It was a really nice day out so I decided that I would walk the four blocks down the street to the French bakery. I was in a really good mood today. I was awake and perky, probably because I slept for almost 18 hours the day before and I just had a feeling that it was going to be a good day.

As I was waiting in the elevator, I decided to check through my phone to see if I had any pictures from the party. Sure enough there were about 30 pictures of Harry and Louis doing obscure things. They must have decided to picture bomb my phone when I was in the bathroom or something. I'm glad I was in the elevator alone though because if anyone else was in there, they would probably think that there was something wrong with me because I was laughing hysterically.

I quickly put my phone away because the door started to open about three floors down. I didn't want the person coming in to think I was an idiot. Ironically enough, the person who was waiting to come in looked very familiar. I saw a big smile grow on his face as he saw me.

In his deep husky voice he yelled, "ANNIE! Long time no see!" Then he reached out to give me a great big hug. Yep it was Harry. To be completely honest, I was actually planning on giving him a call or texting him later in the day.

"HEY HARRY!" I said sounding happy to see him. "Where are you headed on this fine morning?" I asked him in a playful, yet curious voice. I was surprised he wasn't sleeping; I mean it's only like 9:30.

"Oh you know, just off for a little bit of a walk before the fans get here and it becomes impossible for me to leave the building." He said very nonchalantly.

"Uhg, I honestly don't know how I'm going to live with this. It is so annoying having to plan when you're going to leave, based on the fan's schedule." I responded, sounding very annoyed and ticked off. "Whoever this band is, they must be either really talented or really attractive for all these girls to be just waiting outside their apartment every single day." I said while rolling my eyes.

He laughed at my expressions and the tone of my voice and then said, "Why do they either have to be extremely hot or extremely talented? Why can't they be both?" he said looking amused at what I had to say.

"Seriously, come on how many boy bands do you know that are really good _AND_ really attractive?" I said with emphasis on the "and."

He laughed and rolled his eyes, "I don't know how I'm supposed to answer that question." As the elevator opened onto the main level he went on to say, "So where are you headed so early?"

"Well, yesterday I woke up at about four o'clock in the afternoon, went and skyped with my boyfriend, Colin, and then fell back to sleep about an hour later. When I woke up this morning, the apartment was completely spotless. I feel so bad that I left my roommates, Claire and Ally, to do all the cleaning, so before they wake up, I want to go out and get a good breakfast to make up for not helping out."

"Well isn't that sweet; I wish my roommates would bring me breakfast." He said in a playful, but sarcastic tone.

I gave him a light playful slap on the chest while I continued to say, "Hey! Don't make fun of my idea. I just want to be nice and say sorry for sleeping while you guys clean the whole house for five hours."

"Okay, okay true, I get your point. So do you need a hand bringing the stuff back to your room?" he asked in a sweet and charming voice, which made my heart race.

"Yeah that would be great!" It was a lot of cleaning that I skipped out on, so I was going to have to bring back a lot of food to make up for it. "This is actually really ironic because I was going to call you today to see if you wanted to go out to lunch or something." I said with all honesty as we headed down the street.

"Sure, sure, that's what they all say." He said in a sarcastic voice.

I laughed at his response and continued saying, "No seriously! I was going to text you in a little while because I figured you'd be asleep or something right now."

He chuckled, "Okay I guess I can believe that."

It was really warm out, but there was a nice breeze. The breeze caught his long curly hair and pulled it along with the rest of the wind. A pit formed in my stomach and I could feel my cheeks starting to turn pink. UHG! WHY DID HE HAVE TO BE SO CUTE! I then realized that I'd been staring at his face and smiling for the past 30 seconds. I could feel my cheeks turning even redder because I probably looked like an idiot. But then I realized that he was doing the same. He was staring into my eyes and smiling just as stupidly as I had probably been smiling. I quickly broke eye contact and made the walk awkward for the first time. Luckily, we were almost at the bakery.

"So have you ever been here before?" he asked breaking the awkward silence.

"No, I walk past it every day on the way to school though and it looks really good. I've always wanted to stop in and check it out, but I've never gotten around to it." It felt like I haven't been getting around to a lot of things lately.

"Well get ready because this is honestly the best breakfast food I've ever had. Everything here is just so good; you can't go wrong with anything. But I'll tell you my favorite things to get, if you want." He sounded like he really did want me to ask what his favorite things were. He was so sweet, and he blew me away with his charm. I could feel my cheeks turning pink again.

"Yeah definitely! What's good to get!" I said very enthusiastically.

As we made our way into the restaurant, there were hardly any people in there and anyone that was there seemed to be 60 or older, except for the employees. I looked around at the shelves to see all of the different desserts and pastries. Everything looked so good! As we got to the front of the line, we were greeted by a deep, yet nasally sounding fake British accent.

"Hello what can I serve yo-… Oh, its _you_." He said looking up at me. Seriously, out of all the people Franchy had to work here, seriously?

"Hi Franchy…" I said, my cheery mood drastically changing to an irritated one and my tone of voice sounded just as bad. Harry was looking at us very confusedly, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Mmmm… anyways, what shall I serve you today?" The question was directed at Harry this time.

"Um… can we have the assorted box of crescents to go please?" he said sounding very curious, yet confused.

"Hmm.. that will be $26" he said in his obnoxious tone.

"Wait seriously, $26? I'm a poor college kid. I can't be paying $26 for crescents!" I said, more dramatically than I probably should have.

Harry turned to me, his eyes gazing into mine, saying "Don't worry, I've got it." He then pulled out a black card from his wallet, which I quickly snatched away from him.

"No! I can't have you paying for my crescents. I should be the one paying; I'm the one who didn't clean, not you." I said in a calmer tone. I then took a look at the card that I had snatched from his hands.

I accidently let out an obnoxiously loud, "WHOA!"

I was staring at a credit card only famous people got. I was so confused and was wondering how in the world he had gotten this. At first I thought his dad was famous or something. Then I thought maybe he stole it. "WHOA, HOW DID YOU GET THIS!" He smiled at me but I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he seemed a little embarrassed.

"Hmmm… the girl isn't as smart as she looks, now is she. You'd think she'd realize by now that she's walking around with a man at many talents and a man of many fans." Franchy said. There was a blank look on my face and I'd assume I looked extremely confused.

"Um.. What are you talking about…?" I said in a snotty, yet very confused tone. I looked at Harry, who was looking at the ground and rubbing his neck. "What is he talking about?" I said to Harry in a much nicer, yet still confused, tone.

"I'll explain later, but for right now give me that." He reached over and snatched the card out my hand and gave it to Franchy.

I looked at him with a still confused, but also guilty look on my face and said, "No Harry, even if you do have an unlimited credit card, I don't want you to pay, seriously." I was the one who didn't clean, so I couldn't let him pay.

"Annie, relax, I want to pay. I feel bad having you pay, considering I'm the one who wrecked your apartment in the first place, remember?" I shot a very disapproving look and there was a long pause.

"….Fine….. But you better tell me what this credit card is all about." He laughed at my response and nodded. I was upset about the whole thing, but it was still really sweet for him to pay and I couldn't be mad at him.

Franchy packaged up our crescents and then handed them to me with a nasty look on his face. I looked at him like he was crazy, but I decided to not say anything and just walk away.

"Um… can you please explain to me what that was all about?..." Harry asked sounding very curious, but also skeptical at the same time.

"Nope. Not until you explain that credit card to me." I said in a very stern voice so that I got my point across that I wasn't going to say anything about Franchy until he explained to me what was up with his unlimited credit card.

He looked at me in a very upset way, but I wasn't going to budge until he told me. "Uhg.. seriously it's not really that big of a deal…." He said, very hesitantly.

"Well, if it's not a big deal then why won't you just tell me already!" I said, sounding very impatient but not mean or angry.

"…..Fine…." he took in a deep breath and then let out a long sigh. "Four of my friends and I, well we're in this group…. where we sing…. and…." He didn't need to say anything else and he knew it too. I quickly ran in front of him and turned around, stopping him so he couldn't go anywhere.

"Wait… you're the famous band?" I said hesitantly, but still curiously. He slightly nodded. And there was a long pause because I was trying to piece everything together. What Franchy had said, the card, him defending that a boy band can be good both musically and looks-wise, all the crazy fans… it all made sense. But there was just one thing…

"Why are you so normal?" I asked very skeptically. He chuckled and let out a sign of relief.

"No, I'm serious! You're just so nice, and just so… normal…. " It was weird, weren't famous people supposed to be straight-up jerks?

"Well… I mean I try to act as normal as anyone else…" he said, not really knowing how to respond. I don't blame him; I probably wouldn't know how to respond to a reaction like that either. "So… are you mad….?"

"Why would I be mad?" I asked in confusion while he stared back at me, looking even more confused than I was. "I get why you didn't tell me and to be honest, if I was in your situation, I would do the exact same thing. You need time to tell people. You want to be liked for who you are, not what you do." He then let out a smile and I did too to let him know that everything was understandable and that I was glad he told me.

We started walking again and the conversations picked back up after a minute or two of silence, after I processed what was happening.

"So what's your band called?" I said in a playful, yet still curious voice.

"Oh no, no, no, now it's your turn… tell me what that kid was all about, what was his name again? _Frunchy?_" I let out a loud laugh, he was obviously not going to let this go.

"HAHA! _Franchy_. And it's kind of a weird story… I really don't know how he started hating me…"

"Just tell me the story! I shared something, now it's your turn. That's the way the game works."

I let out a small laugh, "So now were playing a game?"

"Oh stop trying to change the subject… Now get on with the story!"

"Okay…."

**CHAPTER 9** Annie's POV (2 weeks ago)

It was the first day of class. When I walked into class, I heard the teacher tell us to stand behind a mixer and put on a coat and hat. As I did so, a nice girl, Emma, sat next to me. A few minutes later, a guy named James, did the same.

We were all really hitting it off until a tall broad, but still skinny kid, came up to us. He had glasses and talked in what seemed to be a fake British accent.

"My name is Franchy. Do you any of you hooligans have any dental floss handy?" he said in a snotty, nasally voice.

We looked at each other and tried to keep from laughing. James responded, "Um… no sorry… I don't really want to spare any of my dental floss… It's much too valuable to me."

Emma and I cracked up. We gave James a look to let him know that he was crazy to mess with this kid. Franchy snarled at him, catching the hint that he was being made fun of. He then looked at Emma and she shook her head no. Then he looked at me and I did the same.

"Hmmm… I at least thought that this female would carry dental floss with her… I mean look at how yellow her teeth are." He gestured towards Emma's mouth. This child must've been insane, because I have never met anyone in my life with better teeth then Emma. She knew it too, so she just gave him a crazy look.

I then responded, "Um… that's kind of rude. Anyways, Emma has the whitest teeth out of everyone here." I said, hoping he would catch the hint that he should apologize… Unfortunately, he didn't.

"Hmmmm… I beg to differ. And you know, you should try to be nice to people you meet for the first time. A good impression is always the start to a good friendship." He said, acting like he's been being so nice to us.

"Um.. What are you talking about? You're the one who just came up and started insulting my friend's teeth." I said back to him.

"Hmmm… You're a nasty one you know that? Stay away from me. I'm surprised you even have friends." He walked to the table farthest from ours, luckily.

**CHAPTER 10** Annie's POV

"Um… that's really weird and actually really creepy." Harry said as we made our way to the door of the building. He insisted that we take the long way that takes us to the back of the apartment so we don't run into any fans.

As he held the heavy back door open for me, I giggled saying, "Oh, what a gentleman," in a playful voice.

"I bet your boyfriend isn't able to hold a door open for you lately." He said in a joking manner.

"Well he hasn't been, considering he's thousands of miles away..." He could sense the sadness in my voice. I could tell he regretted what he had said.

Things started to get serious again, "You really miss him don't you?" He asked, looking me straight into the eyes which caused me to stop in my tracks. Harry reminded me so much of Colin, just by the most mindless things.

I nodded, while looking at the ground because I knew if I looked in his eyes or tried to say something, I would immediately break out into tears. He could see that too. Harry was able to read me so well, just like Colin.

He tucked my straight hair behind my ear and gently lifted my face up, forcing me to look directly into his gorgeous, green eyes. I couldn't help but fall into his arms and start sobbing. He welcomed me warmly into a hug and rubbed the back of my head gently to calm me down. It only made my heart race even more.

He whispered into my ear, "I know, it's hard being in a long distance relationship. With my last girlfriend, I was always on the road and it was miserable, but you have to be positive and keep your head up high and look forward." He was so sweet and he was actually making me feel better. He lifted my chin up again because I had stopped crying. He smiled at me, letting me know that everything was okay and I would be okay. I smiled back.

I fell back into his arms and whispered into his chest, "Thank you."

"Anytime Annie. I'm always here for you if you need someone to talk to, you know that, right?" he was so sweet and so sincere. Why isn't everyone this nice? I thanked him again and then looked down at his shirt.

"Oh, I got your shirt soaked. I'm sorry." I said, while kind of laughing at the same time, but I still felt bad.

"Don't worry about it. I've got plenty more." He drew me into one last hug.

We finally reached Harry's floor and he walked me over to the elevator because my room was still three more flights up.

"This was really fun Harry. Thanks again." I said with a smile.

"Yeah it was great seeing you again…" there was a long pause and then the elevator door opened. I got in and then quickly turned my head around when I heard him say, "Hey, if you're not busy tomorrow" the elevator door started to close, so I put my foot in the door, to keep it from shutting. "Want to go see a film or go to dinner or something… as friends?" He sounded really nervous.

I reassured his actions by smiling and saying, "That would be great! I'll text you sometime tonight, okay?" A big smile grew on his face and he looked relieved by my response.

"Yeah, send me a text or give me a call or something later, okay?" I smiled and nodded. When the elevator door closed I realized how fast my heart was beating. I was too happy to yell at myself. I started to laugh, thinking about how nervous he seemed when he asked me.

**CHAPTER 11** Annie's POV

As I made my way out of the elevator, towards the apartment, my heart was still pounding. "Why did he seem to make me so happy?" I thought to myself. He truly seemed like a British version of Colin; except, I don't know, there was something different about him that fascinated me.

I went to room 589 and attempted to find my key while balancing the large box of crescents in one arm. Right as they were about to fall off, I swiftly caught them and placed them on the ground. Now I could rummage for my keys without having to worry about dropping the $26 worth of crescents that Harry had so generously paid for. Why was he so different than every other famous person seemed to be? His actions showed that he knew he wasn't better than anyone else. That being in a buy band was just a job and he didn't let that job define him.

I finally found my key and opened the door to the apartment. I was greeted by loud, concerned voices coming from Sarah and Claire.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN! We tried calling you at least 20 times!" Sarah exclaimed while they both ran to me, throwing their arms around me. They sounding like they had come to the worst conclusions as to what could've happened to me. I set the box down and took a look at my phone, seeing that it was dead.

"I was out getting you breakfast" I said in a confused voice. Did I have to tell them where I was going every second of the day or something?

"For two hours!" Claire asked with a great amount of curiosity in her voice.

"What?" I asked, then rushed over to look at a clock. I was in shock when I saw that it said it was 11:30. Was I seriously gone for two hours! It felt like I couldn't have been gone for more than half an hour. I guess the time really flew while I was talking with Harry…

"Where did you go? To the other side of the continent!" Sarah asked, still sounding worried. They could obviously tell I was fine. They were looking right at me. I don't know why they still had to use that worried tone.

"Oh, well, I mean I ran into Harry in the elevator and he came with me. I guess we just kind of let time get ahead of us. We only went to the French bakery down the street, but I guess we went off on a different path that took a little long-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, rewind." Claire cut in. "Who's Harry?" Right after Claire said that, I realized that I hadn't really hung out with either of them since Friday. I hadn't gotten the chance to tell them about Harry and Louis.

"Oh, well remember how I told you our two neighbors, Harry and Louis, came up during the party?" I said, trying to act as cool and innocent about the situation as possible. "Well, I gue-" Sarah cut me off before I could finish.

"Wait, that's funny. The band One Direction lives in this building and two of the members are named Harry and Louis…" she stated, with one eyebrow raised, sounding very suspicious.

"Um.. yeah… about that…" I said not really knowing how to respond to Sarah's statement.

"WHAT!" they both shouted at the same time. Without even giving me time to explain, they quickly pulled me onto the couch so that I was sitting between them. As if on cue, they started bombarding me with questions.

"WHAT-HOW-WHEN!" They couldn't even form sentences because they were so excited. I really did not feel like explaining the whole story, but they were my best friends. I knew that I would want to tell them about Harry and I eventually, so I quickly filled them in on what happened at the party and on the walk today.

They both screamed in my ear when I was finally done explaining. "This is so cool! Our best friend is friends with Harry Styles!" they said. I couldn't help but smile in amusement at their reactions.

I honestly don't understand what it is about famous people that gets everyone so worked up. True, they have amazing talent, but they're not any better than the rest of us. It's seriously ridiculous how far people will go just to see them in person, like the fans currently standing outside my apartment building. The fact that they are just standing outside a building, praying that someone from One Direction will come out, just looks kind of pathetic. They're just normal people.

"So are you guys hanging out anytime soon?" Claire asked in a calmer, but still excited tone. Finally, they were back to normal and I could have a regular conversation with them.

"Yeah, he asked me to a movie and dinner tomorrow night." As I answered, I couldn't help but smile and I could feel my cheeks start to turn red.

"Awww!" they both cried out. "But wait.. What about Colin?" Sarah asked. What about him? It's wasn't like this was a date or anything.

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "What do you mean?"

"You know what we mean! To us its sounds like you and Mr. Styles are going on a date tomorrow night!" I shook my head and laughed. They looked at me with confused faces, trying to figure out what I was going to say next.

"No, no, no, we're just going as friends he said. He knows I have a boyfriend. That's why he didn't end up kissing me, remember?" I said, trying to stop whatever was going through their heads.

"Are you sure? Dinner and a movie? It sure sounds like a date." Claire said, sounding extremely skeptical.

It wasn't a date. It couldn't be. Harry knows I have a boyfriend that I'm madly in love with. He seems like the last person who would get in the way of our relationship.

"_Trust me._ It's_ not_ a date." I said, obviously unable to convince them. They changed the subject because they at least knew that I wasn't considering it a date.

"Wait, so you've seriously never heard of One Direction?" Sarah asked, looking at me like I had five head. I shook my head 'no' and said, "Why, are they good?" I knew that they were popular, considering the large group of teenage girls waiting outside our building.

Their jaws dropped and they shook their heads 'yes,' unable to form words. Claire went over and hooked up her iPod to the Bose and a catchy, upbeat song started playing.

_You're insecure  
>Don't know what for<br>You're turning heads when you walk through the door  
>Don't need make up<br>To cover up  
>Being the way that you are is enough<em>

Everyone else in the room can see it  
>Everyone else but you<p>

[Chorus]  
>Baby you light up my world like nobody else<br>The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed  
>But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell<br>You don't know  
>Oh Oh<br>You don't know you're beautiful

"Oh my gosh! That was actually really good!" I exclaimed. I guess Harry had proved me wrong. A boy band can be good _and_ hot at the same time. "Can I hear more?" I said, sounding really anxious. A big grin grew on both of their faces and we spent the rest of the afternoon listening to all of their songs.

**CHAPTER 12** Harry's POV

The elevator door finally shut. I leaned against the wall and breathed out a huge sigh of relief. At first when I had asked Annie to go out with me, she just had a blank expression on her face, like she thought I was asking her out on a date or something. To be honest, I kind of was, but I knew she had a boyfriend and she would never do anything to hurt him. She was just too sweet of a person to do something like that. As much as I wanted to go on a date with her, I couldn't ask her to hurt Colin, even though I desperately wanted to go out with her. So when I added in the 'as friends' part, a big smile grew on her face. Even if I couldn't go out on a 'date' with her, we could still just go out as friends, which is the second best thing.

As I made my way over to the flat, I couldn't stop replaying the morning in my head. It had just gone so well. She was so easy to talk to. It felt like I'd known her my whole life. All I could think about was spending more time with her.

When I walked into the flat, I was greeted with a nice, cheeky hug from Louis. "Harry! Where did you scurry off to this morning! You missed our intense Pokémon battle!"

Aw man, I had completely forgotten about the battle. Now I know what you're thinking, why in the world are 18, 19, and 20 year old boys still playing Pokémon? Let's just say that were not as mature as we may seem… If you can believe that…

"Yeah seriously Harry, where were you this morning? I completely crushed Niall and I was supposed to play you next." Liam said sounding rather disappointed.

"HEY! YOU DIDN'T _CRUSH_ ME! Plus I'm just having an off day… Heaven forbid!" Niall shot back, quite defensively. If there's one thing you need to know about these boys, this is it, they take their Pokémon _very_ seriously.

"Sorry guys. I woke up early. It was such a nice day out and I wanted to go for a walk before the fans started camping out outside the building." I said quite honestly.

"That's not a good excuse Harry. You were gone for two hours. You could've easily gone for a 20 or 30 minute walk and still made it back in time for the tournament." Louis said, sounding a bit annoyed. They were right about that. Although if I hadn't ended up running into Annie, that would've been the case. It was just so nice talking to her. I guess we just got caught up and didn't realize how fast the time was flying.

"Yeah, I know, but I ran into Annie, and we just got-" Whoops. I had absolutely no intention of telling them about Annie…

"Oooohh, who's Annie, Harry?" Zayn asked as he laid down across the couch on his back while propping his head up on my legs and staring up at me. I looked down at him to see him batting his big brown eyes at me. This was the exact reason why I wasn't planning on telling them about Annie. She was just a friend and I didn't want them to make it seem like she was anything more than that, even though I may have secretly wanted her to be.

"Annie's Harry's girlfriend! Well at least Harry wants her to be, but she rejected him, saying that she has a boyfriend. Poor, poor Harry." Louis said while making a crying face at the 'poor Harry' part. I quickly defended myself and denied what Louis had just said, "Louis, shut up. That's not true!"

"Ooohhh, someone's getting quite defensive now, aren't we Harry?" I desperately just wanted to shove something down Louis's throat. I needed to keep calm though because if I ended up saying anything else, the boys might start believing Louis, who was actually telling the truth. So instead of coming up with a snippy remark, I just rolled my eyes at him.

"Harry, what's this all about?" Liam asked while all the focus was still on me.

"I, erm.. um well, she's just a friend.. and well, we-" I said while looking down and rubbing my neck. I could feel my cheeks starting to get really red and I couldn't think of anything to say.

"Say no more Harry, I'll take it from here!" Louis chimed in. Oh great… this was going to be interesting. "Remember how on Friday night Harry and I went up a few floors to see what all the commotion was about? Well, this pretty girl named Annie was throwing a party and invited us to join in. How could we refuse so generous an offer? So we went in and we hit it off. The party was quite smashing and Harry and I befriended Annie. She was quite nice and a bit cheeky as well… Just the way Harry likes em." I then let out a loud groan, trying to get Louis to stop. Unfortunately, he did just the opposite. "We then went outside and played a nice game of would you rather. Harry proceeded to try to kiss Annie, but she rejected, confessing that she has a boyfriend." He finally finished and I was quite humiliated. How was I supposed to respond to that?

"Aw Harry, it's okay, maybe she will dump the boyfriend for you. You never know..." Zayn said, trying to be quite compassionate towards my feelings. It wasn't working, even though he was really trying.

"Harry, don't worry. You guys should just be friends and then maybe, in the end, it will work out the way you want it to." Niall said while coming over and rubbing my shoulder. I appreciated how they were trying to make me feel better, but I was just not in the mood for this right now.

I looked over at Louis who was making kissy faces at me, which just about threw me over the edge. "That's it, I'm going to bed." I said as I got up and made my way towards my room.

"Aw Harry, don't leave. Louis was only being stupid, come on now. We can change the subject." Liam said, sounding very concerned. As much as I wanted to believe him, he and I both knew that Louis wouldn't drop the subject.

"Yeah Harry, please stay! We won't talk about your girlfriend anymore. I promise!" I rolled my eyes and made my way over to Louis and smacked him across the head. Niall let out a loud laugh and as I made my way to my bedroom, I heard Louis say, "I probably deserved that."

As I sat on my bed I took a look at my phone and saw that I had a message from a number I didn't recognize. I opened it to see,

_Hi Harry, just listening to your music right now and I've decided to make an exception to my theory. I guess boy bands can be both hot __**and**__ talented :) oh and btw if you haven't guessed it yet, this is Annie._

My heart nearly melted as I saw this. My sour mood had just returned to the cheerful mood I was in when I made it to the flat. This girl, there was something special about her. She always seemed to brighten my mood. I knew right away that I was never going to be able to forget about her.

**CHAPTER 13 **Annie's POV

"Annie, put your phone away, she's coming." Emma whispered to me. I hid my phone inside my coat pocket and quickly looked up to see that our teacher was walking around to inspect how well we had followed her instructions for making the perfect tiramisu.

It wasn't that much of a challenge for me because I had grown up making tiramisu. My family had a recipe that has been passed down for decades and I had mastered it by the time I turned eleven. Since I was confident in my finished product, I quickly took out my phone to respond to Harry's texts. We had honestly been talking nonstop since the walk yesterday and I was getting really excited to hang out tonight.

Our teacher walked over to our table to inspect what we had created. When she got to my dessert, she looked at me with a suspicious eye, obviously noticing that I had been on my phone the entire class. She looked down at my tiramisu, raised one eyebrow, and decided to take a bite. She looked up at me with a very displeased look on her face, "Hmmm… well done." She muttered under her breath. I took in a huge sigh of relief and went back to texting after she left our table, trying to be sneakier so she wouldn't notice this time though.

I saw a new message from Harry on my screen.

_Hey, just wondering if we were still on for tonight, I was thinking I could take you to this great Italian restaurant and then maybe a movie afterwards. Sound good?_

It didn't just sound good, it sounded fabulous. I couldn't wait to just go out and hang out with Harry. I quickly realized something very important though… Harry's famous, which means that there would most likely be fans and paparazzi following him around, trying to get him to smile and answer questions the whole time we were out. I really did not feel like dealing with that, even though I did want to hang out with Harry. I whipped out my phone and sent back,

_Hey, that seriously sounds really fun, but won't there be fans and paparazzi following you around? I mean I really do want to hang out tonight, but I just don't think I'm ready to see my face in a magazine or anything, got any other ideas?_

I felt bad about rejecting what he had in mind, but the last thing I wanted was to see my face on the cover of _People_ magazine. I saw my phone light up and quickly looked to see what he thought of my response.

_Oh wow you're so right, it honestly didn't even cross my mind. Well yeah, I still want to hang too, so want to just come over to my place tonight and I can introduce you to the guys and stuff?_

I was so relieved that he saw where I was coming from and didn't get upset that I had ruined his plans.

_Yeah, sounds great! Thanks for understanding :) when should I come?_

I looked up to see my teachers head hovering over mine and the whole room staring at me.

"Hi.." I said, weakly trying to act like I wasn't doing anything wrong.

"Ms. Malone," she said in a surprisingly kind voice. "I don't approve of the use of cell phones in my class without my permission." She gently took the phone out of my hand and crouched down so that her head was a little bit below mine. She continued to say, "Just because you're one of the best in the class doesn't mean you get special treatment and get to slack off while everyone else is working extremely hard." My jaw dropped, my heart was pounding out of my chest, and my face was extremely red. I honestly don't think that I would have been in that much shock if she had used her usual stern strict tone. It just caught me off guard I guess, because she was being so gentle and kind… It was like she was playing a mind game or something.

I just sat there and nodded my head with my jaw still wide open as she walked away with my phone. Why in the world did she have to take my phone away? Class was over in ten minutes and I think she got her point across quite clearly that she didn't want me texting in her class. Besides, what was she going to do with my phone anyways?

Once class was over I made Emma come up with me to get my phone back. Our teacher was sitting behind her desk holding the newspaper up in front of her face. She obviously wasn't able to see me. This meant that I had to be the one to start the conversation…

"Um.. excuse me.." I said, sounding very shy and kind of worried. She looked up from her paper and cocked her head while waiting for me to go on.

"Um, I'm so sorry for disrupting your class today and I really didn't mean to cause such a disturbance" I said, trying to sound as sincere as I possibly could. I mean, I wasn't doing anything bad and I most definitely was not disrupting anyone besides myself. I looked at her to see if she was going to respond, but she obviously wanted me to continue because she had this look on her face that said 'Why are you still here?' So I continued to say, "and well, I was just wondering if…" I paused.

"_If?_" she said with strong emphasis, still looking like she had no idea why I was standing in front of her.

"Um… if I could have my phone back…" I said, not really knowing what else to say. She gave me a cold stare for about 30 seconds. Her stare left me feeling like she had sucked all the joy and happiness from my life.

She turned around and started rummaging through a large file cabinet that didn't seem to contain any files, only junk that she had confiscated and ended up collecting over the years. It seemed like she had been digging through that thing for an eternity when finally she help up my iPhone and handed it to me. As I reached to take it from her, she looked back at me, saying with a stern tone, "If you ever take this out in my class again, you will no longer be allowed in my classroom." My eyes were wide and I took a big gulp. This woman was terrifying. She then hesitantly handed me the phone and Emma and I ran out of there as fast as we could.

"Okay, that lady is officially the scariest person alive." Emma exclaimed, making me realize what I had just gone through.

"You thought she was scary, I was the one who was being tormented!" I shouted as she then looked at my face.

"Whoa Annie, you're white as a ghost!" she said. I then realized how terrified I really was.

"Tell me about it… well at least I have my phone." I said, looking down at four missed messages from Harry.

The first one read,

_7._

Then following one said,

_ I'll cook dinner and you can bake the dessert_

Then I looked at another one after which said,

_Well only if you want too. I'm not forcing you or pressuring you to bake, you probably don't even feel like it after being in class all day._

The final one read,

_But if you want to that would be great, go for it! Although we aren't really equipped with any baking utensils, so you might have to bring some over…_

His messages made me smile and I let out a small giggle. I turned my head to find that Emma was staring at me.

"Okay, I know it's not really any of my business, but who have you been talking with for the past two hours!" She said, sounding kind of frustrated and confused.

"Can I tell you something?" I knew I had to let her know, she was one of my best friends, and I couldn't just leave her out of the loop.

She nodded at me and I continued to say, "Have you ever heard of a band called One Direction?" I asked, realizing afterwards that it was a stupid question.

She let out a small laugh and said, "Yeah, who hasn't?"

I went on to say, "Well, let's just say I just found out who they were yesterday…" I went on to tell her about the party, the walk, and the texting. I could see her facial expressions become really excited and happy, but I was just relieved that I wasn't being interrupted while I was trying to explain.

"Wait, so that whole time, you were texting with Harry Styles?" she said as more of a statement than a question.

I nodded, waiting to see her reaction. Surprisingly enough, she didn't scream or freak out as Claire and Sarah had. "That's really cool," she said in a very calm, but still happy tone. I smiled and thanked her for not making a huge deal out of it. This was one of the reasons why I loved Emma. She always seemed to be calm and never make a big deal out of anything.

After we left the building, I realized that it was five o'clock and I should probably get home and start getting ready to see Harry. I said goodbye to Emma and then went on my way.

**CHAPTER 14 **Annie's POV

When I got home, I was greeted by Claire, who was lying on the couch, looking extremely bored. "Hey.. What's up?" I said, sounding a bit curious as to why she was lying there, looking depressed.

"Oh nothing…." She sighed, "Just bored with nothing to do." It's understandable. I mean it is a Monday night and there usually isn't anything to do on Monday nights. Both of us don't have classes on Tuesdays though, so we usually go out on Mondays, but tonight I was hanging out with Harry.

I felt bad leaving her behind tonight though, so I said, "Well Harry and I aren't going to the movies or anything tonight. We're just hanging out at his house with the rest of his friends. It would be great if you came! I doubt they would care." I said, being completely honest.

"No, I kind of just feel like staying home and relaxing tonight." She said, still sounding a bit depressed.

"Are you sure? It would be a lot of fun if you came!" I said, still trying to convince her to come.

"No, I'm actually really tired. Maybe I'll meet up with a few of my friends from class and see a movie or something." She said, sounding a bit perkier.

"Okay, well if you change your mind, they're three floors down. Their room number is 391." I said, still letting her know that I was fine with her coming along.

After talking to Claire, I went to my bedroom to fix my hair and makeup and look for something to wear. I decided on a pair of teal shorts and a white lace long sleeved shirt. Then I made my way to the kitchen to gather the stuff that I needed to bake with at their house.

I pulled out cupcake pans, piping bags, cupcake liners, and a whole bunch of random stuff they most likely did not have. I finally pulled out everything that we could possibly need, realizing that they might not have the most important item, a mixer. A mixer is the only thing I refuse to take over, considering that mine is about 300 pounds and there would be no way that I would be able to carry all this stuff over alone, plus my huge mixer. I shot Harry a text saying,

_Please tell me you have a mixer at your house._

He responded about ten minutes later saying,

_Um, yeah I'm pretty sure we do._

I was relieved by his response. I looked at my phone, seeing that it was 6:55, I decided I should start heading over there. I said goodbye to Claire, grabbed my purse, and then made my way to their apartment, carrying a huge pile of stuff, praying that I wouldn't drop anything.

When I reached their floor, it took me a few minutes to find their room, considering I couldn't see the over all the things I was carrying. When I finally got to their room, I managed to somehow ring the doorbell without dropping anything.

As the door opened, I was greeted by a cute guy with short blonde hair. "Hey! I'm Niall, and you must be Annie!" he said in an accent I didn't recognize. It couldn't be British, it was too strong.

"Hi! Nice to meet you!" I answered back.

"Here let me take this stuff," he said, relieving my arms from all the things piled up on them. As I walked in, I was greeted by a tall brown-haired kid with slightly wavy hair, and a more ethnic-looking one. I didn't see Harry or Louis anywhere.

"Hi I'm Annie," I said sweetly while shaking their hands. "Hello, I'm Liam-", "And I'm Zayn!" Liam was the one with slightly wavy hair, and Zayn was the more ethnic-looking one.

"Nice to meet you!" I said back.

"Harry should be back in a few minutes" Niall said, "He and Louis just went out to pick up some last minute things for dinner." I nodded and smiled. This didn't seem very awkward for them, but for me it was the definition of awkward.

"So Louis and Harry say you're an excellent baker" Liam said with excitement in his voice.

"Well, I mean I'm not terrible…" I said, smiling and trying to be seem too modest about my talent. I could tell I wasn't convincing them though.

"Well I'll be the judge of that," Niall said.

"So what are you planning on making us?" Zayn said with intense curiosity and excitement.

"It's up to you. I mean, I love baking. I'll make anything you guys want me to make" I said while organizing the stuff I brought over on the counter that Niall had placed it all on.

Smiles grew on their faces as I said that. "Anything!" Niall went on to say.

"Absolutely anything. But give me a challenge because I'm sick of making all the same things. I want something new and creative. Do you have any ideas?" They looked at me, nodding with huge grins on their faces.

**CHAPTER 15** Harry's POV

As Louis and I walked through the door to our flat, we were greeted by a heated debate on whether or not a cheeseburger cupcake would taste good. Two guesses as to who suggested that one… Niall.

"Ew Niall, that's discusting! I asked for a challenge, not something that's going to make someone throw up!" I heard Annie shout. As I made my way into the kitchen, I received great big bear hug from Annie. Just the thought of her makes me smile. Now seeing her in person makes me feel like nothing can go wrong.

"Hey! How are you!" she asked me with cheery attitude, She looked beautiful. But for some reason, she was trying to jump in front of my head so that my view of kitchen would be blocked. Unfortunately for her, she was still shorter than me when she jumped.

As I turned my head around to see what she didn't want me to look at, she said "You might not want to look in the kitchen…" she said, trying to warn me of something. She moved in front of me again, still attempting to block me from going into the kitchen.

"You really think you can stop me from going in there?" I said, laughing at the thought of her thinking that she would be able to keep me from going in.

She then gave me a disapproving look and said, "I was able to get you to tell me about the band, remember?" I laughed again because she actually thought that she was able to keep me from going anywhere.

"Annie, watch this…." I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder and she let out a scream.

"PUT ME DOWN NOW HARRY STYLES!" She shouted, which caused me to laugh even more.

"Not until you admit that you're not able to-" As I walked into the kitchen, I stood there in shock. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" I shouted and then put her down so she could explain.

"Um… well you see… Niall wanted to have a bake-off… against Liam… and I guess it just kind of got a bit out of hand…" I stood there with my mouth wide open as I watched Niall and Liam run around a kitchen that had a terrible-smelling cupcake batter all over the floor, walls, and counter. There were pots and pans scattered literally in every single nook and cranny of the room and I saw smoke come from some concoction that Liam seemed to be cooking. To top it off, the fire alarm started to ring.

"Oh man!" Niall said as he ran around the room trying to air out the house so the fire alarm would stop. I looked down at Annie who was staring at me with an innocent smile on her face.

"Okay, now I know it looks bad, but don't worry, I'll clean this up." She said, trying to calm me down as she ran to the closet to try and find a mop or broom or something. She was the last person I wanted to clean this up, even if it was her fault. She was a guest and I didn't want to ruin the evening by having on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor. So I quickly grabbed her by the arm, keeping her from going anywhere and said, "No, don't worry about it. They can clean it up."

She shot me another disapproving look and said, "But Harry, I'm the one at fault here, I encouraged them to have this contest…" She obviously felt bad about the whole thing.

"Yeah true, but you had no idea what you were getting yourself into. Trust me, if you had known then you probably wouldn't have encouraged them, would you?" I said. Her eyes widened and she shook her head 'no'. "See, well there you have it. It's not your fault and I don't want you to worry about cleaning this up." She shot me another disapproving look, but it was interrupted but Louis picking her up and throwing her into a hug.

"LOUIS!" She said, sounding very happy to see him. "I haven't seen you since the party! How have you been!"

"Oh you know, I've just had to put up with Harry over here talking about you nonstop." He said in a playful, but still serious voice. I put my hand to my face and gave him a nasty look. She was smiling when he said this and her cheeks were starting to blush. I could tell this made her feel uncomfortable because of Colin.

I decided to leave them alone so that I could go yell at Niall and Liam for destroying the kitchen I had spent hours cleaning earlier today.

"Come on guys, seriously! You had to destroy the kitchen that I spent four hours cleaning today?" I said in a nasty tone towards Liam and Niall. Then I gave Zayn a dirty look as well because he hadn't been helping either. He was just rolling on the floor laughing the whole time.

"Sorry Harry…" Liam said, sounding upset and actually quite sorry for the mess. "Yeah really man… I guess we just kind of got wrapped in the contest and… well yeah.. sorry we honestly didn't mean to…" Niall said, sounding very honest.

"It's okay guys… no big deal. But you are cleaning this up!" I said in a stern voice. They nodded and then went back to cleaning.

In the other room Annie and Louis were sitting on the couch talking about who knows what…

I walked in to find Annie with her head leaned back and her hands over her face while she was hysterically laughing. I got really nervous as to what Louis had been telling her…

"Hey guys.." I said a bit wearily as I made my way to sit next to Annie. "Oh hey Harry!" Annie said as her eyes widened when she saw that I was coming over. Well at least I hope that's why her eyes widened.

"Louis was just teaching me some British lingo" she said, sounding quite entertained. "OK QUICK WHAT DOES LUVVLY JUBBLY MEAN!" Louis asked in an intense tone like he was testing her on her knowledge and if she didn't get it right she would lose a million dollars.

"ITS ANOTHER WAY OF SAYING LOVELY!" she answered, seeming very competitive.

"RIGHT YOU ARE MS. MALONE! NEXT QUESTION! WHAT DOES-"

_Ring…Ring…Ring…_

Annie then looked down at her phone saying, "Aw man… I should probably get this…" she put her phone to her ear and started talking.

"Hey Claire… Yeah… Alright…. Here come down, I'll give you my key…391... K, bye!"

She put the phone down and turned to me saying, "Hey is it alright if Claire stops by for a minute or two…. she forgot her key and is locked out of the apartment." She said, sounding a bit worried thinking we would be upset about it or something.

"Yeah it's no problem. If she's not busy it would be great if she stayed for dinner." I said, trying to make her seem comfortable with having me around her friends. A big smile appeared on her face and she pulled her phone back out to dial Claire.

"Hey, Harry just told me it would be great if you stayed for dinner!" Right as she said that I heard a scream on the other side of the phone which caused me to smile and let out a small chuckle. She turned to me to see what my reaction was; knowing that I had heard the scream, everyone in England must've heard it. "Okay great! See ya soon!"

"I take it she's a fan?" I said while smiling and letting out another chuckle, "Oh yeah…" she said while looking down laughing and shaking her head. Then she looked back up at me and began to say, "She's not weird though I swear. She will probably be her usual cheeky self" she said, looking very proud of herself using her new vocabulary.

I let out another chuckle and smiled at her. I could stare at her gorgeous face for hours. The way her eyes glistened in the light, they are like a deep, deep ocean that I can't seem to swim away from no matter how hard I try. And her hair, it was beautiful. I've never had a thing for red-headed girls, but her hair was absolutely amazing. It made everything about her just pop and added more attraction and beauty to her. She sat there smiling back at me and I couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking.

Louis obviously must've known what I was thinking. He'd known me long enough to know when I was falling for a girl and how I was able to 'trick her under my spell' which was what he called it. He says I can hypnotize anyone with my charm. That's how I somehow managed to get a 30 year old girlfriend and _Larry Stylinson_.

Louis chimed in saying, "Hey Annie, weren't you just telling me about your _BOYFRIEND, _Colin?" he said directing the _boyfriend_ part at me. He knew what I was doing and he was trying to stop it before I was able to hurt her. I rolled my eyes at him, but I knew he was only doing the right thing.

She quickly broke our eye contact, realizing what we had both been doing. She turned to face Louis. I assume she started talking about Colin, but my thoughts were interrupted by the ring of a doorbell.

**CHAPTER 16** Annie's POV

Liam answered the door and I quickly ran past him to throw my arms around Claire. "HEY COME IN!" I said very enthusiastically. I felt like I hadn't spent any time with Claire lately, so I was really glad that she decided to come after all.

As I walked her inside, I introduced her to all the guys, "This is Liam, This is Zayn, this is Louis, this is Niall- where's Niall?" I said, curiously looking around for him. "Oh well, you'll meet him later I guess. And this is Harry." I said, letting out a small giggle after saying Harry's name. I looked around to see if he had heard it and unfortunately he did. I could see him starting to blush.

"Hi everyone, I'm Claire." She said in a sweet voice, but sounding kind of nervous. "Hi Claire, nice to meet you." Liam said, breaking the awkward tension. Zayn, Harry, and Louis were also very friendly, greeted her, and made her feel welcome, inviting her to come sit on the couch with us.

I sat on the long couch next to Liam and Harry. Claire and Zayn sat on the other side of Harry. Louis was forced to sit in a comfortable looking chair because there was no more room on the couch.

It was really fun. We all started talking and just going off about the most random things. It didn't feel or seem awkward at all with Claire there. She was just being part of the group.

"Oh hey, I should probably start working on dinner." Harry said, looking over at me, seeming a bit disappointed. "Need any help?" I asked very willingly. Harry and I were having a great time and I really didn't want it to end.

A big smile grew on his face and he nodded 'yes'. "Yeah that would be great!" he said, sounding relieved that I clearly wanted to spend more time with him.

"No Annie, you can't leave yet! We are in an intense game of jenga!" Liam said, looking very upset.

I looked over at Harry saying, "I'll help in a few minutes. I just need to kick Liam's butt first." I said in a very cocky way and the whole room started to go "OOOHHH!"

Harry let out a small laugh and said, "Okay I'll meet you in there. Try not to beat him too badly, he's sensitive." Harry said, which caused me to look at Liam and start laughing. A frown grew on Liam's face and he mumbled something I couldn't seem to make out.

A few minutes later Niall came in and took Harry's spot. "NIALL! YOU RAT, I WAS GOING TO TAKE THAT SEAT!" Louis exclaimed, looking quite angry.

"Sorry Louis, I got here first." Niall said, not looking sympathetic at all. "And who are you?" Niall asked Claire in a sweet, yet curious voice. Her cheeks started to turn pink and she let out a small giggle saying, "Hi, I'm Claire."

"Nice to meet you Claire, I'm Niall." He then stuck out his arm to shake her head and her cheeks started to turn even redder.

"You too!" she said, still seeming a bit shy. Niall was so sweet and once I saw them together I just knew they were going to be great friends. About ten minutes after meeting each other, Niall and Claire were hitting it off. It was like they've known each other there whole life. I could hear them cracking up and making inside jokes. They were perfect together!

I was just about to beat Liam at jenga when I accidently put too much force into pushing out a block. "OHHHHHHHH!" I heard the room go as the tower smashed to the floor. I looked down, put my face in my hands, and started laughing.

"WHO KICKED WHO'S BUTT THIS TIME ANNIE? HUH?" Liam said in a surprisingly competitive tone. After about five minutes of Liam proclaiming his victory, I made my way to see what Harry was up to in the kitchen.

**CHAPTER 17** Claire's POV

"NIALL!" I screamed, not able to contain my laughter. What in the world had this child gotten into? He insisted upon asking the sales clerk at the local grocery store if their white milk came from white cows and their chocolate milk came from brown cows. Niall couldn't keep a straight face , it was literally hilarious. I felt so bad for the guy. He looked really confused and kind of annoyed, but that's what made it so funny!

About an hour ago, Harry was looking for someone to go out and pick up a few more things for dinner that he had forgotten. Niall and I volunteered and ended getting into many shenanigans, if I do say so myself. It had been such a fun night so far. It's weird, I felt like I've known Niall my whole life. He's just so easy to talk to and so fun.

"What is the milk policy at this store? Do you have a preference on whether you sell milk from a brown cow, white cow, or black cow? What's your favorite type of cow?" Niall asked, while trying his hardest not to break out into laughter. The man just stood there looking at us like we were crazy teenagers and up to no good, which was exactly right.

"But here is the question of the day, where does the strawberry milk come from?" Niall said, looking into another direction while rubbing his chin trying to make it look like he was pondering the thought of a cow that milks strawberry milk. This kid does not stop. I was honestly knocking things over because I was laughing so hard, making me unable to control my body motions.

Niall stared intensely into the clerks eyes, somehow keeping a straight face, but then busted out laughing. I'm honestly surprised the clerk stayed here this long. Maybe this was more entertaining to him then stalking up shelves on an empty Monday night.

Niall and I eventually got up and managed to stop laughing. "Are you done?" the man said, making it seem like he had better things to do. Niall and I looked at each other, trying our hardest not to laugh, but utterly failed. "Have a great evening." The man said quite bitterly as he turned around and left.

"We just _UTTER_-ly failed at finding out their milk policy." Niall broke into more laughter. It honestly wasn't even that funny of a joke. It was probably just the aftershock from messing with that guy that made the laughter burst out of me.

"Aw man… that was a laugh!" Niall said as we made our way out of the store.

"Wait let me see your phone." I said, sounding like I was up to no good.

"Oh Lord, why may I ask?" he said very wearily and sounding very skeptical.

"Just give it to me... please!" I said, looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes, trying to see if it would actually work on him.

He smiled and rolled his eyes saying, "Fine…" as he reached into his pocket and took out his iPhone. "But _NO_ tweeting!" he said, sounding very stern. I rolled my eyes at him and let out a small laugh because I knew that if he knew what I was going to do then he probably would have forbidden that as well.

When he gave me his phone I quickly dialed a number and put it on speaker. "Oh great, who are you calling…?" he said, looking very worried and skeptical. Before I had time to answer, a person picked up. When Niall finally recognized who was on the other end, we both started to laugh so hard that tears fell down our faces.

The person let out a huge sigh and said "Hello," in a very irritated tone. I finally pulled myself together and while trying to attempt an Irish accent, said, "Hello, this is Niall Horan. I was just in a few minutes ago and I was wondering what your milk policy was but one of the employees failed to tell me… Could you please put your manager on the phone?" Niall was cracking up.

"Your accent is so bad!" he whispered to me.

"Oh like you could do a better British accent!" I whispered back.

"You kids! Just leave me alone! Can't you tell that I'm not in the mood for this tomfoolery tonight!" he said, raising his voice which caused Niall's to laugh harder.

"I'm not getting into tomfoolery! I just simply want to know what your milk policy is!" I said, trying to put more emphasis on my Irish accent, which also ended up causing Niall to laugh more.

"How many times do I have to tell you kids? _WE DON'T HAVE A MILK POLICY!_" he said, trying to sound more serious but it didn't really work. It only caused us to crack up even more. Unable to come up with an answer I hung up the phone. I was laughing so hard that I literally started to roll on the ground and Niall pilled in on top of me.

When we finally managed to calm down he said, "So you just know the grocery store phone number by heart?" he said, looking very intrigued and curious.

"Let's just say, Annie and I like to prank call…. _A lot…_" I replied.

He let out a small laugh saying, "I can just see you guys spending your nights, staying up late baking and calling the most random places."

"I'm not going to lie, that actually does sound like a really good time. The two best things in the world combined, being cheeky and food."

I let out a small laugh and he smiled at me. "You know for a fan you're really calm around us. I mean, I wouldn't really describe you as a calm person. You're more of a silly, cheeky kind of girl, but yeah, I like how you're just being yourself around us. I hate when people feel like they have to act differently. I mean we're just normal people and we're not any better than anyone else, so why do people care so much about what we think of them and everything? You know what I mean?"

Niall was so sincere and sweet. He's is honestly one of nicest guys I've been around in a long time. "I know exactly what you mean, but they really love you and they are the ones who got you this far, so you just kind of half to deal with it. We don't mean to be creepy or annoying or anything. We just want you guys to understand how great we think you are." I said, trying to defend us fans. Sure we can go way too far and be very stalker-ish and irritating, but I mean, that's what they signed up for.

"Honestly, I love these fans with all my heart and they don't bother me one bit. I love how they aren't afraid to be their wild, crazy selves around us. They're probably the most honest people in our lives and they're also the most supportive. What I really meant was my old friends and my family…." As he said that I looked over at him. I could see the pain in his eyes.

"Oh… Niall, I think we've all been through those times… I mean, we all go through some point in our lives where were we've been treated differently based on our family life, how we look, or just things that we feel is no one else's business but ours. They should just leave us alone and not judge us." I said that last part with some emotion behind it; I guess he picked up on it because he looked over me, obviously wondering what had made people treat _me_ different. Instead of answering, I looked away hoping he would understand that I really did not want to talk about it. Luckily, he caught on.

"So, what's the definition of cheeky?" I said in a playful, yet curious voice, trying to change the subject.

He let out a little chuckle and said, "Basically you're the definition of cheeky Claire."

"But what does it _mean_?" I said with emphasis on the 'mean'.

"It pretty much just means like you get into mischief and your quite silly and your 'up to no good,' like that guy at the store said." He said, letting out a smile at the same time as me.

"Well I guess Annie and I together are super cheeky then" I said, letting out a small giggle.

"Oh no, you and Annie together go way past super cheeky and straight to insanely cheeky." I smiled and blushed again.

"Here you are miss" Niall said in a playful tone, while holding the door to the building open for me. I blushed and let out another giggle and said, "Why thank you, what a fine gentleman you are."

He let out a chuckle and smiled at me and then said, "Well, you know I am the finest of all the gentlemen in Europe."

I let out a laugh and said, "Wow, somebody's modest."

He laughed and said, "Hey not all gentleman are modest."

I laughed again, "I guess so."

We finally made our way up to the flat about an hour and forty-five minutes later with the stick of butter Harry needed.

**CHAPTER 18 **Annie's POV

"Wow… Now you decide to show up? Right after we finished eating pizza." Louis said in a very bitter tone as he walked up to Claire and Niall. "Sorry, we just got caught up… and it was quite busy…" Niall said while looking down and rubbing his neck and Claire started to blush.

I wonder what had they had done doing? I looked at Claire and she gave me a look that said she would explain everything later. She came and sat next to me at the kitchen counter.

"Hmmmm…. The grocery store is busy at 11:30 on a Monday night?" Zayn said, looking very skeptical while he examined Niall. It was silent for a few moments as Louis and Zayn stared Niall down. Finally the silence when Harry came into the room.

"Seriously Niall? We were extremely hungry! You've been gone for an hour and forty-five minutes!" Harry said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Well seriously, who eats dinner at 11:30 at night anyways?" Niall said, trying to defend himself. I was really surprised that I wasn't starving. I never eat dinner this late and Niall was right, no one else does either.

"Okay, well I'm going to bed… I have to wake up early tomorrow anyways." Liam said, breaking the awkward tension. It was just a simple dinner and everyone was making way too big of a deal about it.

Zayn turned around and decided to leave Louis alone to interrogate Niall. "Bye Zayn, bye Liam!" I said to them as they left. Zayn replied with a smile and a wink.

Liam said, "Bye Annie, see you soon!"

Louis finally decided to leave Niall alone and went to sit on the couch. "It's really hot in here..." Claire mumbled to me, not intending on anyone else hearing. Niall then came over to pull her off the stool saying, "Let's go outside and get some fresh air." She smiled at him and followed eagerly.

"Oh great. First he gets away with starving us and now he goes off and makes out with his new girlfriend." Louis said with a very bitter attitude. I let out a small laugh while Harry let out a groan.

Chuckling, I whispered to Harry, "Is he always this grumpy?"

He shook his head and let out a little chuckle as well, "Only when he's upset that he doesn't get to eat my cooking."

"Oh you must be pretty good then." I replied, sounding impressed.

He let out a small laugh, "I'm not bad." He was trying to seem modest but it wasn't working.

I smiled and laughed a little, "I want to try your cooking sometime."

He laughed and said, "Next time I'll make you something"

"Promise?" I said back quite skeptically.

"I promise" he said in a sincere voice.

I let out a huge yawn by mistake and say, "It's been a long day, I think I better get home…" I didn't really want to leave, but if I didn't, I knew I would end up falling asleep here.

Harry gave me a disappointed look and whined, "Annie, please don't go!"

I frowned at him, "Harry, if I don't go, I'm going to end up falling asleep on your couch or something."

Still looking disappointed, he said, "But Claire doesn't have a key and who knows how long she will be out there for… If you don't wait for her she'll be locked out of your flat."

It was the little things about him that made my heart melt, like his accent, or him saying flat instead of apartment. I could tell he knew that I wanted to stay and he knew he would somehow be able to make me.

"Annie please, if you fall asleep you can sleep in our guest room until Claire's ready to go… Whenever that will be…" He explained that their apartment had six bedrooms. One for each of them plus a guest room… How big is this place!

I let out a small laugh, "Harry is this your way of asking me to spend the night?" Harry joined in to laugh with me.

We smiled at each other and he gazed into my eyes. His gorgeous green eyes just made me melt, and his hair, it just gives me butterflies.

"Annie stop! You can't be thinking about a friend this way! Especially when you have Colin!" I thought to myself.

I quickly broke eye-contact after realizing this and he said, "So what do you say?"

Right as I was about to say no he looked at me with those beautiful eyes and I gave him a disapproving look. "Fine, but only untill Claire's ready to go. And if she's not ready within an hour then I'm leaving without her." His smile turned to one as big as a little kid on Christmas morning. I tried not to smile but looking at his happy face made me break and I let out a huge grin.

"Well not that you would notice or care, but I'm going off to bed." Louis said as he got off the couch to make his way to his room.

I laughed a little and said "Goodnight Louis. Hopefully you wake up tomorrow feeling luvvly jubbly!"

Louis cracked a smile, let out a small chuckle, and said, "Goodnight Annie, I'll see you soon." His bitter mood changed to a happy, more pleasant one.

"Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?" Louis said, gesturing Harry into his room. As Harry left I made my way to the couch to find something to watch on TV.

**CHAPTER 19 **Harry's POV

As I followed Louis into his extremely messy room, I realized why he wanted to talk to me.

"Harry, you better stop." He said, giving me a serious look.

"Stop what?" I said in trying to act innocent.

"Harry, please don't try to act all innocent. You know what you're doing and you need to stop." I gave him a blank stare and he let out a sigh. "Harry, even if you don't think you are, you're using your Harry Styles charm on her. Your putting Annie under your spell without either of you two knowing and it needs to stop." I just stared at him and he continued. "You just need to stop or else you are really going to end up hurting her… That's all I'm saying." He said in a much calmer voice.

I sighed and said, "I know, but Louis, you don't know how it feels to have the person you think your meant for be in love with someone else. I know that sounds crazy, considering I've only known her a few days, but Louis, when I'm around her, everything's just… perfect."

Louis let out another sigh, "I was afraid of this. Harry when I see you two, I feel like you guys are meant to be, but she's not an option for you right now and you need to just accept that."

I let out a long sigh and said, "I know and trust me, the last thing I want to do is hurt her. I'm done, I swear." Louis gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder and sent me on my way.

As I made my way to the living room, I saw Annie curled up in a ball on my couch, sleeping. I smiled and let out a quick chuckle; she's adorable.

**CHAPTER 20 **Annie's POV

As I got out of bed, I realized that it was 12:30 in the afternoon. I really need to start waking up earlier, I hate waking up this late. The sad part is that I probably would've slept in later if I hadn't heard Sarah yelling into her phone.

As I made my way out to the kitchen, Sarah was still screaming into her phone, but even louder now because she realized that I was awake and didn't have to keep quiet. As if she had been so quiet earlier.

I sat at the kitchen counter next to Claire and asked quietly, "Is Sarah talking to Spencer?" Claire nodded back at me. Spencer and Sarah had been fighting for the past two weeks, and it was really starting to get bad.

"SPENCER JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" I heard Sarah scream into her phone.

"What's going on?" I was curious as to what they were always fighting about. I feel like I never see Sarah to ask her though. For some reason, she's always with Spencer, even though they constantly seem to be fighting.

Claire shrugged her shoulders, "I don't even know anymore. It always seems to be something different." As she got up to get a glass of water, she let out a small laugh and smiled to herself.

"What?" I asked, curious as to why she was laughing.

"Oh, I was just thinking about last night," she answered, letting out another chuckle. Then the memories of last night came back to me: Niall and Claire taking forever at the grocery store and staying up late together.

"Wait, so what were you and Niall doing last night?" I asked, sounding quite calmly.

She looked at me blankly and then kind of annoyed, "Okay, I don't know what everyone else thought Niall and I were doing last night, but we were late because we got caught up harassing one of the sales clerks at the grocery store. We were NOT snogging." She answered in a very stern voice which caused me to laugh a little. Seeing Claire serious was weird.

She looked at me and raised her eyebrows and I quickly raised my hands up in defense, "I believe you I promise!" I said looking back at her. She stopped looking at me, came back to sit next to me, and I continued on with my questions.

"Wait, so what were you guys doing outside for so long?" I said, raising my eyebrows at her this time.

"Oh my gosh! How many times do I have to tell you? WE WEREN'T DOING ANYTHING! We were just talking, making jokes, and hanging out. AS FRIENDS!"

I let out another laugh, "Okay, first of all, I never accused you guys of making out or anything. Second of all, I was just curious about why you were laughing."

Then she let out another laugh, "Oh that? I was laughing about you and Harry." Now I was confused. What did she mean, me and Harry?

"You don't remember?" she asked. I continued to give her a blank stare and she let out another chuckle, "Last night, you fell asleep on their couch. About an hour later, Harry came outside asking if I was staying any longer. He was wondering if he should just carry you to their guest room or if I was going home soon and he could carry you up with me. I figured that you probably would want to sleep in your own bed, so being the great friend that I am, I left early." I let out a small laugh. "And as he was carrying you up…" she had to stop talking because she started laughing, "Did you know that when you're tired you act like a drunk person?" she asked with all seriousness.

Oh great… how could I have possibly embarrassed myself this time? "Anyways, so while he was carrying you up, you just started saying all these things," she started laughing again, this was not good. "I couldn't really make out what you were saying, but your voice and facial expressions were priceless." She started laughing again and I put my palm to my forehead. I really wish she just decided not to tell me any of this.

Then Sarah came into the room. She looked exhausted and her face was red and puffy from crying.

"Sarah, what happened?" I asked. She looked so depressed, it wasn't even funny. Claire and I both ran to give her huge hugs and more tears started falling from her face.

"He-He-He-" She was crying so hysterically that she couldn't even seem to get words out.

"Okay, breathe." Claire said, trying to calm her down. I went over and gave her a glass of water so that she might be able to say something.

She drank the water and a few seconds later she was able to make out words, but her voice was shakey, "I don't know, he just-" she managed to say and then broke out into tears again. She fell right back into our arms and we guided her over to the couch so that she could sit down and relax.

She finally stopped crying again and began to explain, "He says…. He says he loves me… but I don't think he does…" she sounded so scared as she said this.

Sarah leaned her head against my shoulder and I rubbed her back, "Sarah, just relax, it's okay. Maybe your just misunderstanding him or something…" I tried my best to seem optimistic.

"No, I know… I think I'm just being a bit dramatic…" She sighed while Claire and I tried to calm her down a little more. After sitting there silently for a while, she finally went to go take a shower and try to relax herself.

Once Sarah left, I went to get my phone and texted Harry,

_Ok whatever I did last night please ignore it. I get really weird when I'm tired…._

**CHAPTER 21 **Annie's POV

After I sent the text, I went to take a shower. For some reason, I was really exhausted. I hadn't even stayed up that late, but I decided that today should just be a chill day. Maybe I would even bake something for Sarah to make her feel better.

When I got out of the shower I decided to stay cozy and put on a T-shirt, a pair of yoga pants, and an oversized sweatshirt that belonged to Colin. As I put on the sweatshirt, tears started to form in my eyes and I just wanted to cry. I couldn't let myself though. I never understood how hard it was being in a long distance relationship until I was actually in one.

As I headed to the kitchen to make cupcakes for Sarah, I heard the doorbell ring. It was probably Claire. She always forgets her key and gets locked out of the apartment.

"Claire, I'm going to staple this key to your head or something-"

"Ouch," a familiar voice laughed.

Wait, that's weird. It was that same familiar voice that I fell in love with so many years ago. But it couldn't be, my mind was just playing a trick on me or something. But as I opened the door wider, I saw the same face that matched the voice, his messy blonde hair, his tall broad body, and his smile that gave me butterflies every time I saw it. Colin was here!

I let out a huge scream and immediately fell into his arms. He picked me up and spun me around and the tears that had built up earlier started flooding down my face.

This felt like a dream. How could he possibly be here? Why? I couldn't process what was happening, all that I knew was that it was just me and Colin together again. Nothing could go wrong.

"COLIN!" I finally screamed. I couldn't get any other words out because I was still in shock. ""Why are you here?" I finally managed to exclaim.

As he wiped the tears from my face, "Are you happy to see me?" he said, sounding quite cocky, knowing that I was ecstatic.

"Happy! I can't even begin to explain how happy I am! I'm beyond happy!" I said, still crying my eyes out. "How did you get here?" I asked again. Honestly I didn't even care, I was just so happy to see him.

"Happy three year anniversary!" he said and more tears began to stream down my face. I looked like a mess but I didn't even care. The fact that Colin came down for our anniversary tomorrow just made my heart melt into a million tiny pieces.

He set me down, "Colin, what about school? And your frat? And-" he put his finger to my lips and shushed me. I was grinning like an idiot, but so was Colin. We were both too excited to see each other again to care.

"Annie, don't you think I would much rather be with my girlfriend that I haven't seen in a month then be in class right now or getting wasted at some party?" I smiled. The fact that he would come all the way over here just for me made me realize how much he really loves me. I was so happy, I couldn't contain myself. Quickly, I pressed my lips to his and pulled him into the apartment.

As we made our way to the couch all I could think about was kissing him and having him tell me he loves me. As I snuggled up against him, he wrapped his arm around my body and kissed my forehead, making his way down to my neck.

"Annie, I've missed you so much." He managed to say between kisses. I could hear the sadness in his voice.

"Colin, you honestly don't know how happy I am right now. The fact that you would come all the way here, it just-"

Before I could finish he cut me off, pulled my face to his, and whispered, "Stop, we're together right now so let's live in the moment." He brushed his lips against mine and leaned in to kiss me. I couldn't stop; it felt so good just being with him again. When we kiss, it just feels like everything around us has stopped and it's just me and Colin.

Each time he would kiss me I could feel goose-bumps forming in new places. As he made his way down my neck, I heard a laugh and then someone said, "Wow, someone's having a good time." Colin and I both sat up to see Sarah standing in the kitchen, looking amused and chuckling to herself.

"Don't mind me, I was just leaving" she said, laughing again. My cheeks turned really red, I took a big gulp and said, "Oh, um Colin, this is my roommate Sarah."

She laughed a little, "Hi Colin." She could tell that we were feeling very awkward right now, but for some reason; she didn't appear to be feeling awkward at all. Sarah was one of those lucky people who never seemed to be awkward.

"Hi Sarah" Colin said back, seeming a bit embarrassed. We both sat up and I gestured for her to leave when Colin wasn't looking. As she was on her way out, she mouthed to me, "He's so cute!" I giggled and I could feel my cheeks turn red again. I was so lucky to have someone like Colin.

When she left, the mood for making out had left also, so I went and checked my phone and saw that Harry responded to my text from earlier.

_Haha, it's no problem, I thought it was cute. Anyways, all your baking stuff is over at my house so would you like me to come drop it off?_

At first I was going to say yes, but then I realized that it would be the perfect opportunity for Colin to meet Harry and the guys. So I answered,

_Haha oh Lord… and Colin came for a surprise visit and I want him to meet you and the guys. Can we come over and pick up the stuff instead?_

**CHAPTER 22** Harry's POV

I let out a huge sigh. But of course, I answered yes. Annie responded saying that she would be here with Colin in ten minutes.

"What's wrong Harry?" Niall said as I made my way to the couch. I looked at him and tried to act like nothing was wrong, but he could tell that I was bluffing.

I finally gave in and told him, "Colin came for a surprise visit and Annie is coming over now because she wants him to meet us."

Niall looked at me, seeming confused, "Well isn't that a good thing? It means that you're her friend and she wants your approval on him."

"No Niall, it's the complete opposite. She doesn't want me to meet him for my approval. Even if I say that he's a complete ass it won't change her mind and make her break up with him. Plus,-" I paused for a second and then muttered so he couldn't hear, "I'm a bit jealous of him actually…" I obviously didn't do a good job of muttering, because I could tell by his facial expressions that he could hear me.

"HARRY!" Louis ran in, collapsed on top of me, and kissed my cheek. I grunted because it actually did hurt a bit. I rustled his hair and he looked at me. "What's wrong Hazza?" He said, sounding a bit concerned. I just looked at him.

"Annie's coming over." Niall chimed in.

"Well, isn't that a good thing? Annie's really nice. Did something happen last night?" he sprawled out across the couch and looked up at me. He seemed quite confused as to why I didn't feel like seeing Annie.

Thankfully, Niall answered for me, "She's bringing Colin."

"Oh…" Louis said, sitting up, starting to get serious. "Harry, she doesn't know what she's missing out on."

After that was said, the doorbell rang. I walked over to answer it and was greeted by a warm friendly hug by Annie. I could honestly hug her for hours. Her hugs are just so sweet and welcoming; not many people can hug like her.

"Hey!" I said, gesturing her inside.

"Hey Harry! This is Colin." she said giggling, while gesturing her hands to a tall, broad, blonde kid.

"Hi I'm Harry" I reached my hand out to shake his.

"Nice to meet you." He said.

"Where's everyone else? I want you to meet them too." She looked around for them and then looked at me, "Louis and Niall are here somewhere. Zayn and Liam went out to see a film or something," I answered.

Then she scurried off to find Louis and Niall, leaving me and Colin alone together. One thing is for sure, this was going to get quite awkward, very quickly.

"So… you're in a band I see…." He said, trying to start a conversation. "Not going to lie, I've never heard of you guys, but Annie says your quite good for a boy band. That's saying something coming from her." It seemed like he was trying to give us a compliment but also not trying to at the same time.

"Yeah, I doubt you would've heard of us, we're mainly only known in the UK." I said, trying to sound modest.

He looked around and laughed at the huge pile of stuff on our counter. "I take it that's Annie's" he said, laughing to himself again.

"Yeah, we were all going try to learn from her last night, but it didn't quite work out." I said, feeling a bit agitated as I remembered how Liam and Niall had completely destroyed the kitchen yesterday.

"Yeah that's Annie for you. Before you know it, there will be a permanent box of things here that belong to her," he replied. We both laughed and then fell silent for a few moments. Luckily, the awkward tension was broken when Louis, Niall, and Annie came back. I breathed a huge sigh a relief.

"Colin, this is Louis and this is Niall." She said in a perky voice. I smiled at her. She always seemed to be so happy and giddy and she could always find a way to brighten my day.

"Hey." Colin said in a voice with no personality behind it.

"Hey!" Louis and Niall said together.

"Want to come sit down?" Niall said, trying to be polite and make Colin feel comfortable.

"Yeah I'm just going to get some water first-" Annie started to say.

Colin interrupted her, grabbed her arm, and said, "No actually, I think we should probably get going."

Annie looked confused and said, "But we just got here."

Without answering, he just went over and grabbed her stuff. What a jerk.

"Are you coming?" he said, looking at her as he started walking out the door. She paused for a few seconds and looked at us with an apologetic smile. Then she turned to follow him.

"Oh, we're still on for tonight, right?" she said before she was out the door.

"Yup! Well, that is if it's okay with Colin…" Louis said, knowing that Colin was too far ahead of her for him to hear.

She rolled her eyes and said, "I'm going without him if it's not okay with him." Then she made her way out the door.

"What a dick." Louis said.

"Yeah really. How do you think she puts up with that?" Niall asked.

"Don't judge him yet, he seems to really make her happy." I said, trying my best to give him another chance. To change the subject I asked, "So what's happening tonight?"

"We're going to dinner… all _seven_ of us…." Niall said, appearing quite skeptical as to how the night will pan out.

"Yes, this should be quite an eventful evening…" Louis answered with the same weariness in his voice.

I shook my head. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to going out with this guy either, but if it makes Annie happy to have all of us together, then I will do whatever she wants.

"If he treats her like that again, I might have to punch him." Niall spat out.

Louis and I both looked over at him and smiled, "Look at you getting all protective Niall" Louis said mockingly.

As Louis said earlier, one thing was for sure, this was going to be quite an interesting night.

**CHAPTER 23 **Annie's POV

I ran quickly to catch up to Colin. Why the heck was he acting this way? When I caught up to him, I grabbed him by the arm and he turned around to look at me.

"Why were you acting like that?" I asked, still very confused.

"Acting like what?" he said, acting as if he had been completely normal the whole time.

"You know what, you were being rude to them."

"Annie, I wasn't being rude." Colin looked at me as like I was crazy.

"Um… yes your were. Look, if you don't like them, which I don't know why you wouldn't, please keep that too yourself and try to be nice to them. They're my friends and they make me happy. Just please be nice to them." I said, trying to gain his approval of my friends.

There was a long silence until we reached the apartment. He set my baking stuff down and we silently put it all away. After we finished, I made my way to the couch and Colin followed. He gently put my hair behind my ear, brushed my cheek with his fingers, pulled my face closer to his, and tried to kiss me.

I quickly leaned back, "What are you doing?" I demanded.

"What do you mean, what am I doing? I'm trying to make out with my beautiful girlfriend." I leaned back even more which caused him to sigh. "Okay, what's wrong?" he sounded really disappointed. It didn't seem liked he cared about what I had to say, but too bad for him.

"You never answered my question. Why were you acting like that to my friends? You _never_ act like that, even when you don't like someone." He was out of character. He's usually nice to everyone, no matter who they are.

He let out a big sigh, "Annie… I don't want you hanging out with them." I gave him a look to let him know I was not happy about his statement. Who was he to tell me who I can and can't hang out with? Plus, what made them any different from all of my other friends?

"Um… Why?" I asked.

Again, he let out a sigh, "Annie, they just don't seem like your type of people." What the heck was he talking about?

"Um, what do you mean by that?" I asked accusingly.

"I don't know… they don't seem… _good_ for you." He said unconvincingly.

I continued to just stare at him, "Why?" was all I could come up with.

And again with the sigh, "I don't know. Well the curly haired one-"

I interrupted, "Harry."

"Right, I don't know. He just seems… I guess I'm just afraid… that you guys will-" I put my finger to his lips to shush him. Then I let out a small laugh.

"Colin, you have absolutely _nothing_ to worry about. Harry and I are just friends, that's all." I said, reassuring him. He stared at me, "I promise." I whispered.

A smile grew across his face and he apologized. We went back to kissing and everything seemed fine. It was really weird, Colin has never gotten jealous of another guy. In all the three years that we've dated, this is the first time he has ever done anything like this before.

I leaned back as he tried to kiss me again, "What this time?" he moaned.

"I forgot to tell you. Tonight you, Harry, Liam, Louis, Zayn, Niall and I are going out to dinner." I saw a frown grow on his face, which caused one to grow on mine as well. "Please try to be nice." I begged, "This is really important to me." He nodded and we went back to kissing.

_4 hours later_

I ran into my closet with Sarah to find something to wear.

"How about this?" I held up a strapless blue dress with a big brown belt to go across my waist.

"No. You're going to _Bridochellos_, you need wear something fancier then a summer dress." I nodded and put the dress in the pile of clothes that I wasn't going to wear. I trusted Sarah. She has been to all these restaurants before because she grew up in London in a wealthy family.

Then she held up a simple, tight black dress with sleeves that end just below my elbow. "_This _is what you are wearing." She handed me a flower-printed leather belt to go with it.

"You don't think this is too slutty?" I said skeptically, considering it was a pretty short dress. She nodded her head 'no' while she picked out some blue heels.

The door then opened and Claire walked in. Oh shoot! I had completely forgot about Claire. I quickly pulled out my phone to ask Harry if Claire could come tonight, but he was one step ahead of me. I read his text,

_Do you think Claire would want to come tonight?_

"Claire want to come to dinner with Colin, the guys, and me tonight?" I screamed excitedly.

"Yeah sure! Where are you going?" she asked eagerly.

"Bridochellos" Sarah said, which got Claire quite excited.

"Oh my Lord, that place is so amazing! How did you get in? Don't you need to make reservations like four months in advance?" she questioned.

"It really pays off to have famous friends" I joked.

"I'm so excited! I already know what I'm going to wear!" Claire went over to her closet and pulled out a tight, slightly ruffled navy blue dress with black heels.

I quickly texted Harry back, saying that Claire would love to come. I then went and put my dress on. I even took the time to curl my hair and clip it back.

After I had finished getting ready, I went back over to my phone and saw that Harry had texted me again,

_Hey do you guys want to ride with us or meet us there? We would love to ride with you guys, but the thing is that there will probably be paps and I don't know if you feel like dealing with that or not…_

I asked Claire and we both decided against riding with them. So I texted back,

_Yeah, I mean, we would really like to ride with you, but like you said about the paps and everything… so I think we will just meet you there. 7:30 right?_

In less than a minute, Harry repled,

_ Yeah, see you there :)_

**CHAPTER 24 **Annie's POV

When we entered the restaurant, we were taken to a table right next to a window with a beautiful view of London. I waved to Harry and pulled Colin over to our table. He was very unwilling to come, but he knew it would make me happy, so he came.

Claire walked over to sit next to Niall, who was near Liam and Zayn. I went and sat across from Harry and in between Louis and Colin.

The night was actually going very well. It was a lot of fun. Colin and Zayn seemed to be having a good time chatting. Everything seemed to be going perfectly. Then, Louis accidently brought up the night when Harry tried to kiss me.

"It was quite hilarious actually. Harry got rejected and when he got home-" Louis had to stop talking because he was laughing so hard. "He started crying!" Louis said, barely audible between his loud laughs.

My face started turning really red and so did Harry's. We were both really embarrassed and just wanted Louis to stop. But it was funny looking back on that night and we also couldn't keep from laughing.

I looked over at Colin as I was cracking up and his face was extremely red. I could tell he was tense. I quickly stopped laughing and placed my hand on his which was resting on his knee, "Hey baby are you alright?" He looked as though he was sick.

He turned his head towards mine, gave me stare, and shook his head. "What do you mean _am I all right?_" He snapped at me, quickly throwing my hand off of his.

"How am I supposed to just sit here and be okay with the fact that you almost kissed that kid?" he screamed.

I looked at him, "Colin, I didn't kiss him though. I swear I would never do anything to hurt you like that." The mood had gotten really serious and all the focus was on me and Colin. He didn't answer. All he did was give me a blank stare, which caused my heart to ache, "Don't you believe me?" I whispered because my voice was shaking.

"I don't know what to believe anymore. I give these people a chance because you tell me that they're 'just your friends,' and you fail to mention the fact that you almost made out with one of them!" he yelled in my face.

I stood there, frozen and not knowing what to say. I grabbed his and and just spoke from my heart, "Colin, how could you ever believe that I would hurt you like that? _I love you._" I had to whisper the 'I love you,' part, because I could feel tears forming in my eyes and I knew that if I said it any louder, they would fall.

He yanked my hand out of his again and stood up, causing me to grab onto him. "Colin, please, _please_, don't do this to me." The tears started to fall, I could feel it.

"Annie, this is not my fault. _YOU_'RE the one at fault here. _YOU'RE_ the one who had to go off to England. _YOU'RE_ the one who said that you were too good for Maryland and had to go off to some fancy college. _YOU'RE_ the one who wanted to kiss someone besides me. _YOU_'RE the one who should feel ashamed and guilty and _YOU_'RE the one THAT I _NEVER_ want to see again."

The sobs were streaming down my face, ruining my makeup. Colin just stood there, staring at me, with no emotion. I was in shock and couldn't even process what was happening, let alone think of a response. He shook his head at me and pulled my arm off his one last time and he was gone.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Niall stand up, but Zayn forced him to sit back down. No one could process what had just happened, so my first reaction was to run out the emergency exit. I couldn't go through the way we came in and risk seeing Colin.

Louis's POV

What the hell was wrong with this kid? Who talks to a person that way, let alone a girl who loves you to death and would do anything for you?

I saw Harry get up out of his seat to go find her when she ran out of the room. "No Harry. Not you, even though it's not even close to being your fault… not you." I told him.

I stood up and ran out to find her. I hope she hasn't gotten too far. Annie had been here for about a month and was still a little shaky about where everything was, so I couldn't have her wandering around at night and end up getting mugged or kidnapped or something.

As I ran outside, I heard a sobbing noise, so I turned the corner to see her sitting against the wall with her shoes off, crying as hard as she could. Just watching her made my heart ache. How could anyone ever hurt someone this badly?

I went and sat next to her and threw my jack around her. It was awfully cold for early October and she was outside in a thin dress without a jacket on.

"Hi Louis." She managed to get through the tears.

"Hey babe, how are you doing?" I asked, already knowing that she was doing terrible.

She leaned her head against my chest and started letting out more tears. Her mascara was running and she looked exhausted from all the crying. I could tell that all she wanted to do was stop, but she wasn't able too.

I kissed her forehead and rubbed the back of her head, "I know, it hurts. Just cry it out; it will be okay love… I promise." It honestly seems inhumane the way Colin had treated her in there. Couldn't he see that he was tearing apart a poor, innocent girl in there? It makes me sick, the fact that he wouldn't even give her the chance to let her explain herself.

"Is it supposed to hurt this bad?" she said, her voice shaking.

I nodded, "If you truly love someone, then yeah." she looked up at me, seeming more frightened.

"But Annie, the fact that he could hurt you that badly means that he doesn't love you back. I know hearing this may hurt, but Annie, it means that there is someone better out there for you. You still have loads of time to find someone who _does_ love you as much as you love them back. Just think, you've only wasted three years with this ass when you could've wasted your whole life. Don't you think it's better that you found out now that he doesn't love you then much later?" Louis told me very honestly.

She stared at me and whispered, "Thanks Louis." She had stopped crying but her body was still shaking with fright. "You're a great friend." It was silent for a minute and the chill of the wind overtook her and she fell closer into my body for warmth and comfort.

"This is as far as I was able to go. I thought I was going to pass out or something if I continued home." she replied weakly.

"Annie I don't even think you know your way home." I told her jokingly. She laughed, as did I, and I whipped the few lingering tears from her face.

"Come on, I'm going to take you home." I told her as I tried to help her up. Unfortunately, her body was still shaking and I realized that if she were to stand up, she would fall over, so I carried her to the car.

She was worn out and I knew she just needed to sleep, so I decided take her to our flat and put her in our guest bed. I didn't want to risk a run-in with Colin at her flat.

By the time I had parked, she was fast asleep and I carried her into the bed. This poor girl, who could ever break someone's heart like that?

**CHAPTER 25 **Harry's POV

"What the hell? Why won't he answer!" Niall, Liam, Zayn, Claire and I were standing outside the restaurant and I was starting to feel quite impatient. I was pacing back and forth, trying to get a hold of Louis and Annie, but neither of them were answering their phones.

"Harry just relax, okay? I'm sure they're fine." Claire placed her hand on my shoulder and tried to calm me down, but it wasn't working. I had officially lost it. How could anyone treat her like that? It made me furious. I just wanted to go kick that guys ass all the way back to America.

"How the hell am I supposed to relax when I have no idea where she is and her boyfriend just completely ripped her heart out?" I was breathing quite hard and I felt a little bad about snapping at Claire, but I seriously felt like if I knew were Colin was, I would probably not be able to keep myself from ripping his head off. "AHHH! WHY WON'T HE ANSWER HIS PHONE?" I screamed.

"Harry, please try to relax. Annie wouldn't want you acting this way. Here, let me try to call them." Liam pulled out his phone and I could hear it go straight to voicemail, which caused me to freak out even more.

"TAXI!" Praise the Lord. Claire was finally able to flag down a taxi so we could get home and get to the bottom of this.

When we finally got to the flat, we realized that none of us had a key. Only Louis bothered to take one because we had planned on all coming home together. I couldn't help but bang on the door to try and get Louis's attention. Finally the door opened and we were greeted by Louis whispering, "Shut the bloody hell up!"

I ran inside, "Where is she?" I demanded.

"She's in the guest room. I thought she was asleep when I put her in there, but she hasn't stopped sobbing for the past hour." I rushed into the room. I needed to see her. I needed to let her know that I was here for her and everything would be alright.

As I walked into the room, all I could hear was the sound of her crying. "Harry?" she looked up at me.

Just the sight of her made my heart wrench. I nodded, "Yeah, it's me." It killed me to see her like this.

"Please don't look at me. I look terrible." She told me. Even though the light was off, I was still able to see her tear-stricken face.

I let out a laugh, "Annie, you couldn't look terrible, even if you tried." I heard her sniffle.

"That's not true Harry. I look absolutely hideous right now." I laughed again. It amused me how she doesn't know how beautiful she truly is. I turned on the light to show her that I thought she was still gorgeous and all I wanted to do was see her beautiful face.

"Harry turn that off right now!" she ducked under the covers. I went and sat by her feet and pulled the covers off of her. Her face was stained from the tear running her makeup and her eyes were puffy and swollen from crying. Her whole face was blotchy and red, but she still somehow managed to look as beautiful as always.

I smiled and she stared at me, "Your laughing at how ugly I look right now." The tears started to form in her eyes again and her voice was hoarse and shaky.

I chuckled to myself. "Quite the opposite actually." I said with all seriousness. She managed to crack one of those smiles that made my heart race.

I sat her up and pulled her over to the bathroom that was connected to the guest room. I picked her up, sat her on the sink, got a towel wet, and started wiping all the makeup off of her face.

She leaned her head back against the mirror and closed her eyes. Just the touch of her made my heart beat louder. If she was mine, I would've never done what Colin did to her.

"Harry? Can I ask you something?" she said with her eyes still shut and her head still against the mirror.

"Anything." I responded.

"That night that you almost kissed me… I really wanted to kiss you back, but I couldn't hurt Colin. Why didn't he just hear me out and give me a chance? Why didn't he think about not hurting me like I did for him?" I thought about the question as I continued washing her flushed face.

"To be honest Annie, I don't know. I cannot even begin to wonder what was going through his head when he said those things to you. I will never be able to understand how he was able to hurt you like that. You deserve better Annie."

She sat up as I had finished wiping down her face. It was still flushed, but I was able to see her natural beauty, which caused me to fall even more in love with this beautiful creature. Why did she have to be so God damn gorgeous every second of the day?

She smiled at me and gave me a huge hug. Her face pressed against my chest and she whispered to me, "I love you Harry." It made me smile, even though she didn't mean it in the romantic way that I would've wanted, it was still nice to know that I was an important part in her life.

"I love you too Annie." I whispered into her hair.

Her hair was absolutely stunning. It reminded me of the golden rays of a sun and it just made me love her even more. It was usually straight, but she had curled it for tonight and it looked even more gorgeous. Right now her curls were loose and falling out, but they still made her irresistible. I twirled them with my finger as I held her close to me. I never wanted this moment to end.

Eventually, she pulled back and wiped the last few lingering tears away. I looked down and noticed that she was still in her dress from tonight, so I took her by the hand and led her into my room so I could find something that she might manage to fit into.

She took a seat on my bed and then laid back, her legs dangling off the side. I went into my drawer and pulled out a t-shirt that would be huge on her and a pair of boxers. "This good?" I asked.

She nodded, took a big yawn, took the clothes, and her face started to turn red.

"Um.. Harry… could you turn around please?" I smiled at her modesty and innocence and nodded. Honestly, if it didn't work out between us, I don't know what I'd do. I feel like I've known her my whole life. I can't go one second without thinking about her. It was the simplest things about her that were making me fall in love with her. Like her shyness, her laugh, or the way that she always seemed to make me smile, just by her actions and sayings. Just thinking about her made me smile.

"Okay you can turn around." Her body looked weak. She was exhausted, so I picked her up and carried her back to the guest room.

When we got there, I laid her down, tucked her under the covers, and turned the light off.

"Wait Harry, please don't go." She moaned. No one can ever understand how happy it made me to hear her say that. I looked at her as she patted the spot next to her, gesturing for me to come lay down. I obediently went over and laid down next to her.

"Aren't you going to get under the covers?" she asked me, sounding confused. I chuckled at how cute she was and quickly got under the covers. I wrapped my arm around her and she nestled her head into my chest. Soon, she drifted into a deep sleep and I dozed off as well.

**CHAPTER 26 **Annie's POV

The following morning, I slithered out from Harry's arm and made and my way into the kitchen. All this crying had made me extremely hungry.

As I walked past the living room, I saw Niall sitting up on the couch, fast asleep, and Claire sprawled out across him, sleeping as well. It was honestly so nice having all the same friends as Claire.

When I got to the kitchen, I made myself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the counter. My hair and face felt disgusting from all the crying. When I finished my cereal, I decided I would make my way up to the apartment to take a shower and change out of Harry's clothes.

I honestly was not able to contemplate what had happened last night. It all seemed like a blur and I just didn't even want to think about it because I knew that if I did, I would burst into tears again.

As I made my way to the apartment, I looked at my phone to see what time it was. It was six in the morning! I honestly don't know how I'm up this early, but to be honest, it was kind of nice.

When I opened the door, I saw the last person on the planet that I wanted to see. It was Colin, standing in my kitchen, with his bags.

My body froze and I stood there, not able to move or say anything. He did the same, except he refused to look at me and I could see he was scowling.

"Hi," I managed to get out. My voice was shaky and sounded a bit nervous as well.

There was a long pause. "What are you doing here?" he finally asked, still not making eye contact with me.

"What do you mean? I live here."

He shrugged his shoulders, "I'm just surprised that you're not off with Styles or anything." He said bitterly, but still in a calm tone.

"Did you stay here last night?" I let his last comment go and tried to change the subject.

"No, obviously you didn't either." He looked up at me, eyed my outfit, and then rolled his eyes. I looked down at it as well and remembered how Harry had taken such good care of me last night. It made me blush and I accidently let out a giggle, which caused Colin to give me an evil look and shake his head.

There was a long pause and I was wondering what the heck he was doing here still.

He stared at me again and then broke the silence. "How could you have done this to me Annie? I love you with all my heart and then you go off and almost kiss this kid that you've only known for a month?" I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head.

"Colin, after last night, you showed that obviously do not love me. If you loved me, you would've given me the chance to explain." I responded quite fiercely.

"Fine, explain." He wrapped his arms around his chest, looking really angry, but was patiently waiting for me to explain. The tension in here was growing really quickly and I was sensing that it was going to get ugly. So I tried my best to explain as calmly as I could.

"Harry and I were just messing around… and we'd both had a few drinks,-"

"Oh that makes it much better" he was snippy and sarcastic and it almost made me lose my cool, but I took a deep breath and then continued on as calmly as I had earlier.

"No, it doesn't, but he didn't know I had a boyfriend. He asked me to kiss him, but I declined." I was very proud of how I still managed to be calm.

"Yeah, but Annie, that still doesn't change the fact that you failed to mention that you almost kissed him!"

"That's because I didn't think it was that big of a deal!" I shot back, losing my mellow tone.

"WELL IT IS ANNIE! IT'S A HUGE DEAL!" Colin shouted.

"COLIN WHY THE HECK DO YOU NOT JUST TRUST ME?"

"ANNIE I TRUSTED YOU WITH ALL MY HEART AND I LOVED YOU WITH ALL MY HEART! BUT AFTER YOU LIED TO ME LIKE THIS I CAN NEVER TRUST YOU AGAIN!" we were shouting from across the room. It was starting to get bad, just like I had predicted…

"COLIN YOU NEVER LOVED ME! IF YOU TRULY LOVED ME, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SAY THOSE TERRIBLE THINGS TO ME LAST NIGHT! I KNOW I COULD NEVER SAY THOSE TO YOU!" That just about threw him over the edge. He came over to me and forcefully grabbed me by the arms and picked me up so that my feet were just hovering above the ground.

"PUT ME DOWN NOW COLIN McCOY!" I waved my hands and feet around, trying to get him to let go of his strong grasp. Finally, I managed to punch him in the chest. Not hard, but hard enough for him to let go.

He set me down, but didn't let go of his tight grip on my arms. He seemed so mad. His face was beat red and I was really starting to get scared because he seriously looked like he wanted to kill me or something.

His grip was getting tighter and tighter and I just wanted him to let go so I could run away. Luckily, the sound of a door opening and shutting distracted him and he loosened his grip a little, but not much.

Colin looked up at me and then looked behind me to see Harry standing in the doorway. Harry looked furious and made his way over to Colin, which caused him to let go of me.

Harry looked like he was about to kill Colin, so I ran in front of him, pushing against his moving body to try and stop him, but it didn't seem to work.

"Annie, please just go to my place." he said in a stern voice, which made me realize that this was not going to be good.

"Harry stop! Please don't do this!" I was still pushing against him, but he gently pulled me off of him so he could continue towards Colin.

Since there was no use in stopping Harry, I figured I would try to stop Colin, so I ran over to him as well and pounded on his chest.

"Colin, if you want to prove to me that you have loved me at some point in your life, please don't do this!" I pleaded. He didn't even look at me and just threw me to the ground to get me away from him.

By the time I had gotten up Harry and Colin were on the ground fighting each other. Colin was on top of Harry.

"COLIN QUIT IT! LET HIM GO!" I yelled as I tried pulling him off of Harry, but all he did was push me away again.

I had no idea what to do, so I went with my instincts and hopped on top of Colin's back and started hitting him with my fist.

I think he found it a bit amusing, because I heard a chuckle come out of him. Then he seemed to be very annoyed, because he threw me off of him, causing me to hit my head on the ground.

I blacked out for a minute, but when I was finally able to see what was going on, Colin was still beating Harry up.

"COLIN PLEASE, _PLEASE_ STOP!" I screamed as tears were rolling down my face. Why did he have to ruin everything good in my life?

Then Sarah came in and ran over to me. "WHAT'S GOING ON?"

"Colin-Harry-it-" I was crying so hard that I couldn't even get the words out. Sarah and I both ran over to Colin and managed to pull him off somehow.

"GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE AND DON'T EVER COME BACK! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN COLIN McCOY!" I screamed as I tried sitting Harry up to see if he was okay.

Thank goodness Colin finally left. Sarah and I rested Harry against the couch and I held his face between my hands.

He was half conscience and I said his name several times to get him to wake up. Finally, he looked at me.

"Annie, is that you?" I shook my head and placed his bloody face against my body.

"Yeah Harry, it's me." The tears were still streaming down my face. I was trying my hardest to keep them from falling, but the fact that Colin hurt Harry like that made me more upset then I was last night.

"Annie I-" Harry started, but I shushed him.

"Harry, please don't say anything. You're fine and that's all that matters."

**CHAPTER 27** Harry's POV

My eyes were closed and I could hear quiet voices all around me, but none of them seemed to be Annie's. My face was sore, I could hardly feel my nose, and my head was in extreme pain. I just wanted them all to shut up or I at least wanted the person talking to be Annie.

I let out a few moans and then managed to say "Annie" in quite a groggy voice. As I said it, I felt the person who was holding my hand give it a little squeeze.

"I'm right here Harry," she said with the voice of an angel. I just wanted her to keep saying my name.

I turned my head to her and attempted to open my eyes, but the brightness of the room forced me to shut them. When I finally opened my eyes, I was greeted by the sight of her beautiful smile, golden hair, and eyes that were as blue as the ocean.

"Hi," I said, sounding like a complete idiot. Out of all the things I could have possibly said, I chose 'hi'?

She let out a giggle, "Hi Harry" She started putting something wet on my face. It caused me to cringe when she put it against my swollen cheek.

She quickly pulled it back, "Sorry," I could tell by her voice that she felt bad, but I really shouldn't have reacted so dramatically.

"Oh no, your fine." My voice was rough and sounded exhausted. I honestly couldn't even remember what had happened that clearly, but I didn't really want to, but I could tell by her facial expressions that she was going to bring it up.

"Harry…" she looked at me but then shot her head towards the ground. I was just praying that she didn't feel responsible for this whole mess, but I knew that she did.

"I'm so, _so_ sorry… you and Colin… I thought you guys would be friends… and well, this is the absolute last thing that I ever wanted or intended to happen." She sounded so guilty, which made me feel even worse. This whole thing was definitely not her fault, it was mine. I should have controlled myself and shouldn't have been so hot-headed, but seriously, that guy… just seeing him treat her like that, it just… it just completely threw me over the edge.

I saw a tear fall from her face. No wonder she had been looking down, she didn't want me to see the tears in her eyes. "Harry, I just cannot believe he did this. I just want you to know that I take full responsibility for his actions. He was right, if I told him about the kiss, then maybe-" I cupped the hand she was holding around her face and shushed her.

"Annie, I am _begging_ you to not feel that any of this is your fault. This is 10% Colin's fault and 90% mine." She looked up at me again, tears still in her eyes, but she was trying her best to keep them in. I could tell she was sick of crying. She had probably cried enough to fill four oceans over the past 12 hours.

"Harry no. I cannot have you blaming this on-"

I interrupted her again, "Annie just listen. I shouldn't have been so short-tempered, but when I saw him treat you like that, it just… it just made me break inside. I couldn't take seeing someone hurt you like that, especially someone that you loved so much. It was just absolutely cruel what he did to you." She shook her head at me and there was a long silence. I could tell she was thinking about this morning and how he had completely demolished me. I actually felt quite embarrassed about how terribly I got beaten up. I wish I could've shown off and done that to Colin and actually have been able to protect her.

"HARRY! How you feelin?" Zayn said while he and the rest of the guys, plus Claire came over. Obviously because they saw we were done discussing the situation…

Not to be mean or anything but I sort of just wanted them to go away again so it could be just Annie and I still.

"I'm completely fine guys. I promise."

"Your face doesn't seem to be." Louis said, sounding a bit worried about how my reaction would be when I saw it. His face caused me to become more anxious and grab the mirror he was holding.

My face was purple and black, extremely swollen, plus a little cut up as well. It was quite gruesome and I don't really understand how Annie was able to sit here without shutting her eyes. She probably just felt guilty or something.

Claire looked like she was giving a signal to Annie to leave me alone to talk to the guys, but I would honestly much rather be with Annie right now.

She nodded back and then left with Claire. I don't know, maybe she just needed to let her feelings out to Claire or something. After all, they are best friends.

"Harry, are you alright?" Liam asked me. They all sounded quite concerned, but the only person I was concerned about was Annie.

"Yeah guys I'm fine." My eyes wandered past the guys as I followed Annie's body as she left the room. Why couldn't she have stayed?

"You don't seem fine." Niall said. I touched my face and it ached just by the brush of my fingers. This really sucked.

"Is my face really that bad?" I assumed they were just talking about my face.

"Dude, your face is fine. It will be better in a few days. We were talking about your reaction to Colin. Are you mad?" Liam must've thought I was crazy.

"Yeah seriously Harry, I understand you going up to protect her from him and everything, but did you really feel like you had to challenge him to a fight? That kid probably has 50 more pounds of muscle then you do, plus he's like 6'7!" Zayn stated, also thinking that I was insane.

"I don't know… he just made me so furious… I mean how the hell could he have treated her like that? She was devastated and I had to do something!" I tried to defend myself but it wasn't going to work.

"Okay and your first reaction is to take on the hulk." Louis stated sarcastically.

"Seriously Harry, you do realize that you didn't help her one bit. First, she was upset about Colin leaving her and now she's going to be upset about him almost murdering you. I know you were just trying to do good man, but you only caused more damage." Liam said, trying to sound sympathetic and all, but it didn't really work..

"Looking back on it, it was extremely stupid, but honestly, if I had to relive the moment again, I would've done it all over again. If I didn't get hurt, she was going to. If I was just a minute late, this would've been her. So I know that you all say it was idiotic and foolish of me, but honestly I would rather be idiotic and foolish, then see her in even more pain." They all looked at me with understanding faces, but no words. I was just glad that they understood where I was coming from and how serious I really am about this girl.

**CHAPTER 28 **Harry's POV

For the past week Annie has been staying at our house. It wasn't her idea to stay here; it was me and the guys who decided she should. We all agreed that she shouldn't be in her apartment, considering it was where the fight happened. We didn't want her having memories of the fight and also she was still pretty torn up and needed people to look after her. Even though she lives with Claire and Sarah, they go to school and have lives, so she would end up being home alone most of the day

At first, they felt bad about having Annie stay at our house. They said that we have lives and our music, but honestly were not extremely busy, considering we had just finished our Australian tour about a month and a half ago. Also, we figured, the more people she's around right now, the better.

Even though she's been staying with us, she hasn't been doing any better. Anytime her phone rings, she runs over to it with an excited look on her face, hoping its Colin. When she sees that its just one of her friends or her mum or something, she just crawls on the floor and tries to fight the tears, but always looses. Whenever the radio or an iPod or something is on, you have to be on red alert and make sure to change any John Mayer, Foster The People, or The Fray. Those are apparently Colin's favorite bands and anytime she hears them, she breaks out crying. You especially cannot play any Taylor Swift around her. When Annie and Colin were dating, she would always force Colin to listen to Taylor Swift and eventually he memorized the words to every song. Whenever she hears Taylor Swift she doesn't cry, instead her body freezes and it seems as though she can't breathe or process anything. She turns pale white and it seems as though her spirit has completely left her body. This kid… I cannot believe he hurt her like this. If I ever see him again, I'll kill him for doing this to her.

The thing that worries me the most is that she refuses to bake. Baking is her favorite thing to do and anytime we ask her to make us something or start talking about recipes with her, she won't have anything to do with it. She says she's ready to go back to school, but she refuses to go anywhere near a kitchen and breaks into tears anytime she sees something that reminds her of Colin. We can't risk her going to school and seeing a tall kid with blonde hair that would cause her to start bawling in the middle of class. So instead, we've kept her here and tried to drag her to as many recordings, rehearsals, and concerts as we can, but most of the time she says no, so we make sure either Claire or Emma will be at the house to watch her and keep her from doing anything stupid. Sarah's tried to come down, but apparently she too has been a wreck with her boyfriend and doesn't want to make Annie any worse by her seeing Sarah so upset.

We have been in a pinch about two or three times. Each time Annie was extremely depressed and wasn't in good enough shape to go anywhere. I tried to stay home, but if I stayed everyone would've had to because we were recording a new song and they needed all of us. Neither Claire nor Emma could come either because they were both in class, so we called the cleaning lady to come and clean the house. Before you knew it, Annie and Rosa became quite good friends. It's a bit odd really, but I think it's because Rosa reminds Annie of her mum and she gives her advice on what to do. Since Rosa's been coming, Annie's been doing much better.

"Harry, please stay," Annie begged while lying in bed and pulling my arm, trying to get me to sleep with her another night. Each night this week she has cried herself to sleep and I have been the one holding her tight through the night, making sure she's okay. But this was the first night that she didn't go to bed with a tear stricken face and even though I desperately just wanted to hold her close to me again, I knew I couldn't. If she was going to get any better, I was going to need to let go so she could move on more easily.

"Not tonight Annie." She was still griping my arm, trying to convince me, but I smiled at her because I knew I would not let myself give in another night.

She tried to turn her cheery mood from the day to a sad one by pretending to cry, but she utterly failed, which made her even more adorable. We then broke into laughter at how terrible of an actress she was and at how her fake crying was extremely cute, but awful at the same time.

"Harry please?" she pleaded again.

I was torn. I wanted to stay quite desperately, but I couldn't let all her progress be ruined. I groaned, not knowing what to do.

"Annie, why do you need me in here? Give me one good reason and perhaps I'll stay, but to be honest, you've been quite excellent today and I don't really think you need me tonight." I tried to sound as stern as I could to make it clear to her that I wasn't giving in.

She paused for a few moments and thought.

"I'm afraid of the dark." I let out a chuckle. That was the best she could think of to get me to stay? She was afraid of the dark? Why was she so sweet and adorable every second of the day?

"You're afraid of the dark?" I stated with one eyebrow cocked and a smile on my face.

She nodded, "Yes. And I need you to protect me Harry, so will you please stay?" she giggled while saying this, which caused me to frown because she was tricking me under her spell. I stared at her for a few seconds and finally told her to move over so I could get in. A huge smile grew on her face and I laughed. It was so great seeing her start to become her cheery, cheeky self again. Maybe tomorrow she would be ready to bake again. Who knows.

"Harry, I love you." She whispered into my chest. Another smile grew on my face. She's been telling me that she loves me a lot lately and kissing me on the cheek and such. No one even knows how happy it makes me when she does these things.

"I love you too Annie. Now go to sleep." I could tell her a million times that I love her and that still wouldn't be enough. And each time I say it, I mean 'in love', even though I know she doesn't mean it that way or interpret it like that. I've finally come to the conclusion that I will wait as long as it takes for her to mean it like that though. As Niall says, I'll wait as long as it takes for my princess.

**CHAPTER 29** Louis's POV

Annie woke up this morning still a bit upset, but doing much better then she had been all week. Her severe depression all week made us realize how much she loved this guy. It's also made us realize how much of a dick he truly is.

"Annie, do you think you could make something sweet? I'm starving." Niall said, trying to convince Annie to bake him something. She was making so much progress and it was so great. Last week, she was a mess and refused to go anywhere near a kitchen. Now she was standing behind the counter with all the ingredients in front of her. If we could just get her to do this, it would be wonderful. We would all be so proud of her and she would be proud of herself as well, for proving that she has defeated Colin.

She stared at the ingredients in front of her quite skeptically. She was trying to decide whether or not it was a good idea to start baking so soon. For Annie, this was the biggest step to her recovery. It was like she was suffering from a serious illness, a broken heart, and when she was able to start baking again, that would be proof that she's almost healed.

She eyed all the ingredients one last time and slowly reached for the apron, taking it from Harry's hands. She studied it for a while, as if hesitating, but finally decided to tie it around her waist.

We all looked up at her in shock and clapped for her. She took a deep breath and let a big smile. We were all so proud of her, even if she decided not to bake, just the fact that she made it into the kitchen and gave it thought was a huge step towards her recovery.

"Eggs." She said while looking down at the ingredients again.

"There aren't any eggs." I said sweetly, trying not to crush her spirit. She looked up, seeming a bit disappointed.

"NIALL YOU FATASS!" Zayn said while slapping Niall in the chest.

"I'm sorry. I was hungry this morning! I just had a few!" Niall said, defending himself.

"Are you serious Niall? Last night we had a whole new carton of eggs!" Liam said while making his way over to Niall and playfully messing with his hair.

"Sorry Annie. I couldn't control myself…" Niall looked up at Annie, trying to apologise.

Annie looked up at him with her warm, beautiful smile. "Don't worry about it Niall, I can bake some other time." she said, trying to sound like she didn't mind, but she seemed a tad disappointed.

"I can go get some eggs." I volunteered. We all wanted to see her bake and the only way she would be able to do that would be with eggs.

"Louis seriously, you don't need to make a special trip to the store just so I can bake something." Annie pleaded.

"No seriously Annie, it's no big deal. I feel like getting out of the apartment anyways."

She looked up to smile at me and then gave me hug to thank me. Harry mouthed a thank you under his breath when Annie wasn't looking so that she wouldn't see how desperately he wanted her to start baking again. Harry knew that we couldn't force her to do it. Baking again had to be a choice that she made on her own.

As I got into the elevator, I couldn't help but think about Eleanor. All this break-up drama with Annie had reminded me about my hard break-up with my girlfriend of two years, Eleanor Calder. Things had been pretty strained, considering I was off in America doing a tour. Right after America I had to go to Australia.

Things were busy around that time and I guess she just got tired of waiting around for me, so she decided to go off and find someone new. She found someone that she knew would always be with her and never be off on tour, or being attacked by fans and such. I loved Eleanor to pieces, which made the break-up even harder, but she was just one of those people that didn't understand fame and couldn't take it.

When I got back from America, two days before I left for Australia with the boys, we went to Milkshake City together and she told me that she just couldn't bear it anymore. Dating me when I was never around was just too much for her. I understood, but I was a mess, especially during the tour. I had actually been in the exact same situation that Annie is in right now, minus the baking. But then I realized that I'm only 20 and I will find someone who loves me for everything that I am eventually… hopefully…

The elevator stopped about two floors down to let a person in. As the doors opened, a girl came running in, put her head against the wall, and let her body fall to the floor. I tried not to stare, but she was sitting on the elevator floor curled up in a ball. Then I heard the familiar sound of a sob. I looked down at see her tear-stricken face and instantly let out a sigh. Why couldn't girls be happy anymore?

I honestly didn't feel like saying anything. I kind of just wanted to leave her alone to sort things out on her own. I was sick of girls being miserable and seriously wanted nothing to do with helping this one. But I couldn't help but look over at her and feel sorry for her. In the end, I just _had_ to be a nice guy and decide to help her.

"Hey… are you okay?" I asked from the other side of the elevator.

She wiped the tears from her face and nodded, hoping that I wouldn't see that she was crying.

Well she was fine, I guess. I don't need to ask her anything else. But I let out a sigh because I knew that something _was_ wrong and I needed to at least try one more time.

"Are you sure?" I asked, sounding quite skeptical.

She sniffled a bit and wiped the tears from her face again before looking up at me. Oh God, she was beautiful. Why do all the beautiful girls have to get hurt?

My jaw literally dropped as I saw her. Her dark brown curls tousled around, giving way to her perfectly shaped face. Her tan skin was glowing and flawless, but still a bit flushed from all the crying. Her deep, chocolate-brown eyes were greatly complimented by the royal blue sweater that she was wearing. I've never seen a creature as gorgeous as her. My mind must be playing tricks on me or something.

I quickly regained my focus when I realized that she was going to answer me this time.

She let out a sigh, "I don't know…" I didn't respond because I could tell that she was going to continue on. "Have you ever loved someone so much that you gave them everything, and they just threw it all away… without even caring?" she stared straight ahead as she said this but then turned to ask me the last part of the question.

I gave what she said a bit a thought and nodded. "Yeah… I have…" She wiped a tear from her face and sniffled again.

I wanted to ask her what had happened so desperately, but I didn't even know this girl and I wasn't going to ask any personal questions. Luckily, she let out all of her feelings, so I didn't have to bother asking.

"Why does anything that makes you happy have to be so hard to get?" She looked at me so confused and depressed, it just broke my heart.

"What did he do to you?" I let out without even thinking. I regretted it after I said it. I didn't even know this girl and I wanted her to spill personal things to me.

She wiped her tears again and looked me in the eyes.

"He doesn't love me." she shook her head to herself and proceeded. "He wanted someone who would give him what he wants and I can't do that." I stared at her with compassionate and heartfelt eyes, which made her feel more comfortable to tell me the whole story. "He wants a typical wife. One who will wake up and cook breakfast for him before he gets to go off to work, while I stay at home, watch the kids, and clean. " she sighed and shook her head, while staring ahead at the blank wall.

She looked back me at me again. "But I _can't_ do that. I need social interaction. I can change this world. I am not going to be one of those women who doesn't accomplish anything, because I _know_ I can do great things. And if he loves me, then he would understand that. But he doesn't. Each and every single bloody day I have to deal with him complaining about how I don't love him and don't give him what he wants. But that is such a lie. I gave him everything I could've possibly given. And what do I get in return?" she shook her head and chuckled to herself. "I get to stop at his apartment for a visit and see him snogging some random girl_._" Tears were starting to stream down her face, but she still wanted to continue.

"And instead of an apology, or some stupid excuse to try and make me feel better, all he tells me is that I wasn't enough for him and that Sidney can give him what he wants. Not me." She had finally finished and I was surprised how calm she kept herself during that story. What had happened to guys? Are there no gentlemen anymore?

Her story hurt me and reminded me even more of Eleanor and I's break-up. So I went over and sat next to her on the floor and surprisingly enough, she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Why does love have to be so hard?" she looked in my eyes to ask me, her face only inches from mine.

I shook my head because I honestly didn't know.

"I don't know." I sighed, "I guess it's because if you truly love someone, then it's worth the hardships and the pain that it takes for you to be together." I wiped a tear from her eye and she wrapped her arms around me and leaned her head back into my shoulder.

The doors to the elevator finally opened and we made our way out.

"Thank you. You seriously did help, a lot." She was sincere and honest. I wanted to just spend more time with her.

"Any time, I honestly don't know what's happened to the gentlemen these days." I said with all truthfulness.

"I hope I see you again soon." she dragged on. I know this sounds cheesy, but I got a few butterflies when she said that.

I pulled out a piece of paper, wrote my number on it, and handed it to her.

"I'm Louis by the way."

She smiled and put out her hand out to shake mine, "Sarah." God she was attractive.

"I'll see you around Sarah." She turned around and went on her way, but almost fell over before I caught her. She must have been light-headed from all the crying.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, sounding a bit concerned.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She started to walk away again, but fell into my arms once more. I picked her up, placed her in a chair in the front lobby, and sat myself in the one next to her.


End file.
